Micah 6:3-4
“O My people, what have I done to you? And how have I wearied you? Testify against Me. For I brought you up from the land of Egypt, I redeemed you from the house of bondage; and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.”
It is not uncommon to hear people complain. If the sun is out, we find it to be too hot, if the clouds fill in, we complain that it is muggy, overcast or dreary. We often sound like Goldilocks, who thought things were too hot, too cold, too hard or too soft. When things pass from being uncomfortable to unmanageable, it is common for our complaints to turn against God. We accuse Him of being unfair, distant, uninvolved or even unloving. Like the disciples in the boat, we think God is asleep and does not care about the storm we are currently enduring. Micah draws our attention to a different grievance; this passage reveals the complaint God has against His people.
“For the Lord has a complaint against His people, And He will contend with Israel.”
After declaring that He has a complaint, God asks them to consider what He has done, and questions why they would reject Him. He reminds them of how they were delivered from bondage and carried through the wilderness. When we face the obstacles of life that cause us to question the character and the promises of God, it is a good idea to look back at what He has accomplished for us. Like Israel, we were in bondage and without any hope of rescue. They were enslaved in Egypt and forced to serve a harsh task master, while living under the fear of death. We were enslaved to sin and its consequences. We lived separated from God, and under the penalty of the curse of sin. In that condition, we not only lived in this life without the benefits of knowing God, but we were also on course to live eternally separated from God. It was at the cross that Jesus paid our debt and made our redemption possible.
When difficulty strikes, we need to look back at what God has accomplished for us and allow His Word to direct our thoughts, rather than our circumstances. Circumstances and emotions are very poor guides. Since they are always changing, they do very little to provide stability in life. Instead, we should look at the unchanging promises of God to guide us when our circumstances are difficult and our emotions are crying out.
Pastor Jim
Several years ago I went to Orlando International Airport to pick up a young man whom I had never met. We had talked numerous times on the phone, but had not yet met in person. Before making the hundred mile drive to an airport that has almost thirty five million customers every year, I wanted to be sure I’d be able to pick my friend out of the hundred thousand people milling about. I asked him how I would recognize him. He responded by telling me, he had blond hair and was six feet, six inches tall. A few hours later, I walked into the airport and found him among the masses. Two characteristics were enough to distinguish him from the crowd.
Micah prophesy’s specifically about the cause of the fall of the Judaean city of Lachish. Lachish was the second most important city of the Judah. It was located about 30 miles southwest of Jerusalem and was designed as a stronghold to protect the nation against invasions. It was situated on a hill, surrounded by hills and fortified with great walls and gates. This seemingly impenetrable city would suffer a great defeat when, under the leadership of Sennacherib, the Assyrian forces attacked. Micah declares that the cause of their defeat was sin. The inhabitants of Lachish seemed to have introduced many of the sinful practices, rampant in Israel, to the people of Judah. Their sin would be the cause of their fall. It is worth noting, no high walls or trained army can protect a nation that turns from God.
Paul referred to the believer as a soldier, and compared the Christian life to a battle ground. One of the reasons the Christian life is often difficult, is because we are fighting on two fronts. A large part of our battle is seeking to see others impacted for the Kingdom of God. We enter the arena to fight whenever we pray for the unsaved or the backslider. Scripture tells us our weapons are not carnal but they are mighty and able to pull down strongholds (2 Corinthians 10:4). The weapons we have been given are prayer, the Word of God and our personal testimony. When those are used together, we will find that we become effective in impacting others for the kingdom of God.
Over the past year we have seen summits on global warming, protests against the cruelty to animals, and the unjust treatment of certain groups of individuals. It is clear that people feel justified in demanding the ethical treatment of the planet and its inhabitants. While it is clear that we bear a responsibility before God for the way we treat what He has given us to care for, it is also true, we can become consumed with other things and forget that the most valuable, and often most neglected resource in the world, is the human soul. Jonah wept over the mistreatment of a plant and cared little for the eternal souls of the inhabitants of Nineveh.
Jim Gallagher 