Introduction – Micah has just
declared Israel to be in a national state of emergency. Morally, spiritually, and covenantally,
Israel is about to experience a catastrophe.
Micah has been pricked and torn by the thorns of his day, he is wearied
with the corruption, idolatry, and immorality around him, and declares the
untrustworthiness of the closest human relationships. And then ‘just as they find gold in the dark mine, and as we
see stars in the black night, so do we find these rich words in the midst of
floods of grief and woe’ – Spurgeon.
The Text – “Therefore I will look to the Lord;
I will wait for the God of my salvation; My God will hear me.”
Context of the Word – All the uses of the
word “hear” in Micah up to this point have been in the context of judgment
(1:2, 3:1,4,9, 6:1,2,9). The previous
cry of “Hear the Rod” is in a particular point of contrast to this promise –
“My God will hear me”.
Context of the
Phrase – Notice what is missing here. We Americans are pragmatic people of
action. We are people of programs. We are people of protests and rallies. We are people who primarily place our faith
in, well, in ourselves of course. It is
important that we ‘hear’ the Word of the Lord speaking to us in this passage as
well as in so many other prophetic passages (Lam 3:26, Psalm 37:7, 38:15 as
examples).
Context with
Contemporaries – Micah describes Israel as a fruitless vine
full of thorns (7:1-4), as did Isaiah (5:1-7).
But Isaiah, like Micah, had great hope in the God of his salvation to
restore the briers (Is 55:13).
Looking and Waiting – These are not verbs
of apathy or passive inaction. The verb
‘to look’ has the idea of watching with great expectancy. The prophet is waiting because of the hope
of Who he is waiting for. And the
looking and waiting are synonyms for praying with faith, because the result is
“My God will hear me”.
The Ground of
This Hope – Micah, speaking for the faithful, has not
turned to God because God has made the situation better. The situation has become worse. Hard times may drive us to realize that we
should not hope in other gods. But it
is the goodness of God that leads you to repentance (Rom 2:4). God is our salvation, and it is the
character and goodness of God, not the troubles around you, that ultimately
turns you to Him. His chastisement can
turn us away (from sin), but His kindness turns us to Him.
“My God” – To say there is a God is not
much. But to say of Him that He is the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is to say something (Eph 1:3). We all have gods, but only those who are in
covenant with the Living God may say that He is ‘my God’.
Knowledge and
Acquaintance – “My God” signifies not just that you know
something about this God, but that you know Him. This covenant takes me beyond facts and brings me into
relationship, much like the covenant of marriage takes me beyond facts about my
spouse. In Micah’s day of trial, how
important is it that His knowledge of God be more than abstract truth-axioms. And how about for you?
Obedience to
God – Quite the contrary to the hypocrites
throughout Israel, Micah cries “He is my God”, not only in church, but in the
marketplace. Our God is not an idol
sitting in this room. He who speaks of
God but never obeys Him is a practical atheist; he has no God.
Confidence in Prayer – Micah says, “My God
will hear me”. James warns us to
pray with that kind of faith lest we be tossed about (James 1:5-7). This requires the first part of the
statement. We must know God, and we
must know Him as ‘my God’. “He
who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those
who diligently seek Him.” (Heb 11:6)
Prayer and the
Future – Micah believes that things will happen
because he has prayed, or more importantly, because God has heard. And here we see the glorious marriage
between the predestination of all things (in this context, the exile,
captivity, release, restoration, and salvation of God’s people) and the means
to those ends – the prayers of God’s people.
Micah is not fatalistic in his Calvinism. Prayer accomplishes work, not because of us, but because God
hears our prayers.
We must pray
according to His will (1 John 5:14) – This means we must grow
in our knowledge of His will for all things.
We must pray
‘in Jesus’ Name’ (John 14:14-15) – These are not ‘magic
words’. This reminds us that we cannot
ask anything upon our own merits, but only upon the merits of Christ. And we can only ask upon the merits of
Christ when He is ‘my God’.
We must pray
with current holiness (Ps 66:18) – There can be no hypocrisy
in my approach to God.
We must pray,
believing in the One to whom we are praying (Mark
11:20-24) – Jesus was teaching what Micah was practicing. Micah wanted to see the end of the hypocrisy
and a restoration of righteousness.
Micah knew he couldn’t stop this evil, but he also knew God would, so
his prayers were filled with expectancy.
We must pray
without ceasing (1 Thess 5:17) – Looking and waiting are
equivalent to this verse. It is not
that God has forgotten, He knew before you asked the first time. It is that God wants us to be people who
actively live out our constant dependence and confidence in Him. Dave Hatcher – January
7, 2001