Well, let us turn to the Word
of God and I want to direct you to words that we find in the
book of Micah, the prophet Micah, the minor prophet Micah, not
that he's any lesser prophet than such as Isaiah or Jeremiah,
but his writings, of course, are much shorter. The end of the Old Testament,
the prophecy of Micah. And we're going to consider the
words that we have here in chapter 7 and verse 7. But I'll read from the beginning
of the chapter. In Micah chapter 7, verse 1. Woe is me, for I am as when they
have gathered the summer fruits, as the grape gleanings of the
vintage. There is no cluster to eat. My soul desired the first
ripe fruit, The good man is perished out of the earth, and there is
none upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood.
They hunt every man his brother with a net, that they may do
evil with both hands earnestly. The prince asketh, and the judge
asketh for a reward. And the great man, he uttereth
his mischievous desire. So they wrap it up. The best
of them is as a briar. The most upright is sharper than
a thorn hedge. the day of thy watchmen and thy
visitation cometh, now shall be there perplexity. Trust ye
not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide, keep the doors of
thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom. For the son dishonoreth
the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter-in-law
against her mother-in-law. A man's enemies are the men of
his own house, Therefore, I will look unto the Lord, I will wait
for the God of my salvation, my God will hear me." As I said,
it's these words, this last verse that we've just read, verse 7,
Therefore, I will look unto the Lord, I will wait for the God
of my salvation, my God will hear me. and the subject matter
I want us to take up with the Lord's help is that that he's
spoken of watching and waiting watching and waiting in our prayers
and you will doubtless have observed as we read through the verses
the significance of the opening words in the text therefore clearly
there is a connection with what he has been saying in the previous
verses. And in many ways what we have
at the beginning of this chapter is a lament. The opening words,
Woe is me! Woe is me! Why such a lament
from the Prophet at this time? Well, a couple of reasons I would
mention. First of all, because of himself. because of his sinful
self. In a sense, he is saying that
he is the cause of his own woe. Woe is me, for I am, as when
they have gathered the summer fruits, as the great gleanings
of the vintage there is no cluster to eat, my soul desired the first
ripe fruit. He feels himself, in a sense,
to be so unfruitful and so barren. Now, we have to remember what
was required of the children of Israel in the Levitical law. Back in Leviticus 19.10, again
in Deuteronomy 24.21, they are told quite explicitly that they
are not to strip their vines. they were to ensure that there
was that that would be left. And what was left, of course,
was just the gleanings. It was scanty, it was poor in
many ways, but it was that provision that God was making for those
that were in want. And We're reminded how difficult
often those gleanings were to obtain. In Isaiah chapter 17
and verse 6, the Prophet refers to that practice. He says, Yet
gleaning grapes shall be left in it, as the shaking of an olive
tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough,
four or five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof. He's speaking
of how God's judgment is going to fall upon Samaria, upon Israel,
also upon the kingdom of Syria, and what will be left just as
grape gleanings. And this is the imagery that
the Prophet Michael is here using in reference to himself. Woe is me, what I am, what am
I? I'm just so unfruitful. I am as when they have gathered
the summer fruits, as the grape gleanings of the vintage. There
is no cluster to eat. My soul desired the first ripe
fruit. As the hymn writer says, Fain
would I find increase of faith, Fain would I see fresh graces
bloom, But are my heart a barren heath, Blasted with colt and
black with gloom. He feels, then, what he is. He feels himself to be so fruitless
in the ways of God. He feels the awful reality of
his sinnership. And we see it so many times,
of course, with these godly men, be it in the Old Testament or
be it in the New Testament. Certainly, Isaiah felt his sinfulness
when the Lord called him to be a prophet. Then said I, Woe is
me, for I am undone, for mine eyes have seen the King, the
Lord of hosts. This is cry back in Isaiah chapter
6. And we are familiar of course
with the language of Paul in Romans chapter 7. The good that
I would, I do not. The evil that I would, not that
I do. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? And likewise also when we think
of the writings of Jeremiah, he's referred to oftentimes as
the weeping prophet, and he cries out there in chapter 15, Woe
is me! And we think of the book of Lamentations,
how he laments, and he laments the situation that is all around
him, of course, there in Jerusalem at the time of the Babylonian
exile. All was left, all was desolate.
Doubtless that godly man also felt the reality of that in his
own soul. Here then is the cause, or one
of the causes for the lament of this prophet Micah. He is
aware of what he is. I am, as when they have gathered
the summer fruits, as the grape leanings. of the vintage, very
little fruit. But then I said we can think
of two reasons as another reason also for him lamenting in this
fashion, and it was because of the the fewness of the godly,
the scarcity of those who were the true Israel of God. and he does identify himself
with that godly remnant. Look at the language that we
have previously in chapter 2, and there in verse 4, in that day it says,
Shall one take up a parable against you and lament with a doleful
lamentation? and say we'd be utterly spoiled.
He has changed a portion of my people. Our three movements turning
away, He has divided our fields." They were people then who felt
that they had been spoiled. This is what he is lamenting,
the situation all about him. Israel in the Old Testament is
many times likened to a vine. We certainly see that in the
fifth chapter of the book of the prophet Isaiah, but again
also we have it in the language of the Psalm, Psalm 80. And look at what he said there
at verse 8, Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt, Thou hast
cast out the heathen and planted it. Thou prepare a shroom before
it, and it cause it to take deep root, and it fill the land. Oh,
God had promised the children of Israel that land, and He brings
them into the possession of it. But then what do we read subsequently
there? Oh, that vine was, in fact, destroyed. Verse 15 of the psalm, The vineyard
which thy right hand hath planted, and the branch that thou madest
strung for thyself, it is burned with fire. It is cut down, They
perish at the rebuke of thy countenance." How God had to deal with them
time and again in the way of judgments because of their foolishness,
because of their idolatry, their solemn departures, their backslidings
from the Lord. They were a vine, but it was
not now a pleasant vine. And isn't this the imagery that
we have here in this book? In verse 6 of chapter 1, Therefore
I will make Samaria, the capital of Israel in the north, as an
heap of the field and as plantings of a vineyard. I will pour down
the stones thereof into the valley, and I will discover the foundations
thereof. And this is the same figure that
we have here in this 7th chapter. I am as when they have gathered
the summer fruits. as the grape leanings of the
vintage. There is no cluster to it. My
soul desired the first ripe fruit. What a sad, desperate situation
they were in. The good man is perished out
of the earth. There is none upright among men.
Where were the godly to be found? There were not. The prophet Micah, of course,
is contemporary with Isaiah, and we remember the opening chapter
of that prophecy of Isaiah, how there he also laments the fewness
of the godly. Why? What is Israel? What is
Judah? They are like unto Sodom and
Gomorrah. There is a little remnant, and
for that little remnant's sake God was preserving them, except
the Lord had granted unto us a very small remnant, we should
have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah,
he says. But then immediately, he begins
in that opening chapter to address the people as Sodom and Gomorrah.
They're not just like those wicked cities of the plain. Here is
a cause then for his is grieving, for he's lamenting. He sees that
there are so few godly, just a very small remnant. Evils are
abounding all about him. And that's the language that
follows. In verse 2, they all lie in wait for blood. They hunt
every man his brother with a net. that they may do evil with both
hands earnestly. The prince asketh, and the judge
asketh for a reward, and the great man uttereth his mischievous
desire, so they wrap it up." The evils are abroad, everywhere. Wickedness. Wickedness abounds. And see the language that he
is using here at the end of this third verse. the Mahajan gives
us the alternative reading of mischief in his soul. He utters his mischievous desire,
the mischief that is in his soul. But previously in the chapter
we see so much activity. They do evil with both hands
earnestly. It's in them and it's worked
out what is in their hearts. Out of all the abundance of that
evil within them, they give expression. There is rottenness even in high
places. Verse 4, the best of them, the
best of them is as a briar, the most upright is sharper than
a thorn hedge. Oh, there's rottenness, and there's
rottenness in high places. There's even corruption in the
most intimate relationships of life. Look at what he goes on
to say at verse 5. Trust ye not in a friend, put
ye not confidence in a guide. Keep the doors of thy mouth from
her that lieth in thy bosom, the husband, the wife. The son
dishonoreth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother.
The daughter-in-law against the mother-in-law, the man's enemies
are the men of his own house. Here is the context again. Oh,
woe on every hand, he looks within and he feels his own barrenness,
he looks about him, he sees a multitude of sins. And then we come to
the words of the text. Therefore, I will look unto the
Lord, I will wait for the God of my salvation, my God will
hear me." Well, here we see, and what do we see? We see His
confidence in God, and how is that confidence in God expressed? In prayer, in watching, and in
waiting. Again, the language of Isaiah,
there in Isaiah 8, 17, I will wait upon the Lord, that hideeth
his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him." Oh,
and this is what we must do. We must be those who would watch,
and wait, and plead, and pray unto the Lord. Well, let us come
then to the text. First of all, to say something
with regards to the watching. Therefore I will look unto the
Lord, What is this looking? It's watching.
It's watching. And we need to learn from this
man Micah. We live in days not dissimilar
to what is being described here in the opening part of this chapter,
surely. We only have to read the words
to see how apt is the application. We live in a day where immorality
abounds on every hand, We see the results of humanism and atheism,
the denial of God. How much sincere religion is
there? Very little, it would seem. Many false religions in
our day. We're beset by politicians who
pursue their own ideas. All that political correctness,
as they say, we must attend to. And what confusion. how they
are destroying the very fabric of society. This is the day in
which we are living. And in a sense you see here we
learn that there's nothing new under the sun. Men's hearts are
desperately wicked. Here then we see a situation
not dissimilar to our own day. and we are to come to God as
those who are aware of those things. We read of the men of
Issachar, the tribe of Issachar. Very striking words back in 1
Chronicles 12.32 of the children of Issachar. It says they were
men of understanding of the times and knew what Israel ought to
do. They had understanding of the
times, they knew the day in which they were living, they knew what
Israel ought to do. And are not those the sort of
men that we should desire today, that we might be those sort of
people, to understand, to understand the Word of God, the relevance
of the Word of God. Aware then of the situation all
around us, but as I have already intimated, aware also of our
own personal needs. We have to look to ourselves
so many times, we have to examine ourselves. That's the exhortation
of scripture. There in 2 Corinthians 13.5,
Paul says to that church, to those in the church, examine
yourselves, where do ye be in the faith? He's addressing the
church. Prove your own selves. Know you're
not your own selves. How that Jesus Christ is in you,
except ye be reprobate. Well, that's the important thing.
The Lord Jesus Christ is Christ truly in us. Are we the Lord's
or are we not? There's a place for self-examination. To look to ourselves to come
to God's Word and ask God to prove us by His Word. Think of
the language of David there in the 139th Psalm, search me O
God, know my heart, try me and know my ways, see if there be
any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Isn't
that the prayer of the man of God? The man after God's own
heart? That's how David is described
to us. There's a place then for self-examination, but I do often
think of the words of Joseph Hart when he says, Pour not on
myself too long, lest it sink thee lower. Look to Jesus, kind
as strong, mercy joined with power. There's the important
thing. Therefore, says Micah, I will look unto the Lord. And who is the Lord? Why, it's
the gods of the covenant. It's Jehovah as you see here,
the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. Oh,
it's that God that David found so much comfort in when he came
to his last days. What does David say on his dying
bed? He has made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things unsure, This is all my salvation
and all my desire. This is our comfort in the midst
of all the evils that abound all around us. This is our comfort
even when we come to look into our own hearts and see so much
that would only cause us to be downcast, depressed, to pronounce
woes upon ourselves. What are we to do? with to do
what this man does. Look unto the Lord, unto that
God of the covenant, that covenant that's ordered, that's sure,
that covenant that's been sealed in the precious blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And there's a certain strength
in this word that he uses here, to look. It's a very intensive
verb. It does mean to watch, to aspire
things, to look carefully and closely. That's the idea that we have
here. Fixing the eye, gazing intently. That's the way in which
we're to look to the Lord. Now, we read in Isaiah of those
who were the watchmen upon the walls of Jerusalem, In Isaiah
62, verse 6, God says, I have set watchmen upon thy walls,
O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night.
Ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence, and give him
no rest until he establish, until he make Jerusalem a praise in
the earth. Well, this is what we're to do
if we're those who are truly the Lord's watchmen. ye that
make mention of the Lord." The margin says, ye that are the
Lord's remembrances. Give Him no rest. This is how
we are to come and to pray and to plead with Him. The Lord Jesus would have us
to be watchers. Watch and pray, He says, ye enter
not into temptation, The Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh
is weak. Well, we know that. We know that.
And we feel so often the weakness of our flesh. And we need the
Lord to come and to help us and to encourage us and to strengthen
us. It's interesting what we read
with regards to those in the days of Jeremiah. in that period of the Babylonian
exile, and the folly, really, of the way in which they sought
and sought for help. In Lamentations 4.17, we find
these words, As for us, our eyes have yet failed, for our vain
help, in our watching we have watched for a nation that could
not save us. How many times was that true
of Israel, of Judah, instead of looking to the Lord, they
looked to the nations round about them. And how they speak here
of their eyes failing them, our eyes failed. And we have this
emphasis, in our watching we have watched well if that's how
they were looking to the arm of flesh and there was a certain
intensity in that looking and watching surely if we're those
who are looking to God we can come and watch in faith and in
hope we will not look to Him in vain when we look to Him When
we set our affections on those things that are above, He will
take account. Therefore I will look unto the
Lord, He says. I will wait for the God of my
salvation. There's watching and there's
also waiting. And we read the words, that lovely
130th Psalm, I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his
words do I hope. And he goes on to say it's more
than those who are watching and waiting for the morning. We're to wait then upon the Lord. We have so many exhortations
to that throughout the book of Psalms. Wait on the Lord, be
of good courage. He shall strengthen thy heart.
Wait, I say, on the Lord." We're to be those who would not only
wait, but rest, rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him, says
the psalmist. Fret not thyself. Or we're often
inclined to be fretful. We become anxious, fearful. We
become worried about circumstances and situations and there's much
to cast us down. What are we to do? Well, those
words of the Psalmist there in Psalm 37, rest in the Lord, or
as the margin says, be silent in the Lord and wait patiently
for Him. Are we those who desire that
spirit, that waiting upon God, that quietness before Him, that
He would come and quieten our hearts, that He would afford
that gracious enabling, that we might persevere, you see,
in our prayers, in our watchings. Our time is ever ready. Maybe
His time is not yet. It's not easy to wait. but we
are to be those who would not be weary in well-doing. The apostle
says, in due season you shall reap if you faint not. Rather
than fainting then we are to be those who are waiting, and
waiting not in slothful unbelief, But where there is that true
spiritual waiting, there will be much activity in one's soul. There'll be that spirit of expectation,
that looking for the Lord's appearing. What is the promise of God? They
that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall
mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. These are the promises God has
given us, and God is true. and God is faithful to His promises. We're reminded of that blessed
truth at the end of this chapter. Verse 18, "...who is a god like
unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression
of the remnant of his heritage, he retaineth not his anger for
ever, because he delighteth in mercy." He will turn us again. He will have compassion upon
us. He will subdue our iniquities, and thou wilt cast all their
sins into the depths of the sea." And mark the final verse, "...thou
wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which
thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old." He is
the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and this is the one
that Michael is looking to. watching for, waiting upon. I will look unto the Lord, he
says. I will wait for the God of my
salvation. My God will hear me. And so finally we have that assurance
that our praying is not in vain. My God will hear me, he says.
What does he say back in Isaiah? I said not unto the seed of Jacob,
seek Him I face in vain." We never seek God's face in vain. The promise of the Lord Jesus,
that one in whom all God's promises are yea and all are men, He says,
ask and it shall be given you, seek and ye shall find, knock
and it shall be opened unto you. Everyone that asketh receiveth,
he that seeketh findeth, to him that knocketh, it shall be opened
and we're to trust this God and we're to trust Him above all
else we're to trust Him and we can trust Him above our dearest
friends and our dearest relations look at the context verse 5 trust
ye not in a friend put ye not confidence in a guide keep the
doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom For the son
dishonours the father, the daughter rises up against her mother,
the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man's enemies
are the men of his own house. All with a trust in this God
above all else. Christ says, If any man come
to me and hate not his father and his mother, his wife and
his children, his brethren and his sisters, he cannot be my
disciple. It is the Lord, you see, who
must have that preeminent place. He is that one that we are to
trust in, above and before and beyond all other relationships. Here then we see how the prophet
begins the chapter with his woe. Woe is mine. Or what are we to
do with our woes? Surely what we should do is to
turn them into prayers to the Lord. to turn to Him, to cry
to Him, to call upon Him. That's the purpose of our coming
together Thursday by Thursday. We come principally to pray. We turn to God's Word. We want
that God would come to us. We can never be beforehand with
Him. He comes to us, and if He really
comes to us, or is coming to us, surely will move us. to desire
that we might also reciprocate and come to Him. Therefore I
will look unto the Lord, I will wait for the God of my salvation,
my God." Oh, it's the language of appropriation throughout,
is it not? My salvation, my God, will hear
me. Well, the Lord bless His word
to us.