RISING FROM THE DEPTHS

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light.”

“Because I have sinned against Him, I will bear the Lord’s wrath, until He pleads my case and upholds my cause. He will bring me out into the light; I will see His righteousness. Then my enemy will see it and will be covered with shame, she who said to me, “Where is the Lord your God?” My eyes will see her downfall; even now she will be trampled underfoot like mire in the streets.”

“The day for building your walls will come, the day for extending your boundaries. In that day, people will come to you from Assyria and the cities of Egypt, even from Egypt to the Euphrates and from sea to sea and from mountain to mountain.  The earth will become desolate because of its inhabitants, as the result of their deeds.”

“Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your inheritance, which lives by itself in a forest, in fertile pasturelands. Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead as in days long ago.”

Micah 7:8-14

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

The final chapter of Micah is interesting in that we find several voices speaking throughout it. In some instances, ones we have seen already, we have had the prophet Micah Himself providing the voice. But in other places, like the verses we will look at today, we find the nation Israel itself as the narrator. Tomorrow, we find God chiming in with words as well.

Up to now, we have found Micah lamenting about the fallen state of Israel, a nation about to receive the fullest extent of God’s judgment for their blatant, sinfulness. We know the prophet resigned himself to simply watch and wait for the Lord to come and take action against all the wickedness with the intent of correcting the Israelites and leading them toward being the kind of people He wanted them to be.

As we continue to look at Micah 7, we see Israel finally speaking up, acknowledging the wrongs they have committed, understanding that punishment was warranted, but also holding onto hope for a brighter future after they had paid the price for their transgressions. After Israel speaks, we will find Micah come back into the picture and speak words of hope and encouragement to the Israelite people. Look again at these verses here:

“Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light.”

“Because I have sinned against Him, I will bear the Lord’s wrath, until He pleads my case and upholds my cause. He will bring me out into the light; I will see His righteousness. Then my enemy will see it and will be covered with shame, she who said to me, “Where is the Lord your God?” My eyes will see her downfall; even now she will be trampled underfoot like mire in the streets.”

“The day for building your walls will come, the day for extending your boundaries. In that day, people will come to you from Assyria and the cities of Egypt, even from Egypt to the Euphrates and from sea to sea and from mountain to mountain.  The earth will become desolate because of its inhabitants, as the result of their deeds.”

“Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your inheritance, which lives by itself in a forest, in fertile pasturelands. Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead as in days long ago.”  Micah 7:8-14

Israel was in an unfamiliar position of weakness. God had removed His favor from them and they were ransacked, both the northern and southern kingdoms by the Assyrians and Babylonians respectively. Their misfortune brought great pleasure to the enemy nations around them, enemies who gloated over the destructive disaster that had befallen the once powerful, holy nation.

It was those enemy nations that Israel addresses in our scripture passage assuring them all that although God’s people had fallen, they wouldn’t stay down forever for a day would come in the future when they would rise up again from the darkness and the Lord would once be their light.

Note that Israel isn’t blaming God for what was about to happen to them. The nation instead shows full accountability, confessing that they had sinned against the Lord and thus would bear His wrath until the penalty had been paid. Then, having served their sin sentence, the people of Israel would return to the Lord’s favor, to His light where they would once again see His righteousness.

With this, the message from Israel to their enemies was clear.

“You’re next!”

For on the coming day when Israel would be restored by God, it would bring shame on her enemies who had mocked her before by asking where God was in the midst of their plight. The enemy nations rejoiced in Israel’s downfall but their own collapse and ruin was just around the corner. Indeed, we know that it did happen just the way it was predicted.

So Israel had spoken, admitting their iniquities, holding onto hope for the future, and condemning their enemies.

Next we see Micah sending a message to the Israelite people.

“The day for building your walls will come, the day for extending your boundaries. In that day, people will come to you from Assyria and the cities of Egypt, even from Egypt to the Euphrates and from sea to sea and from mountain to mountain.  The earth will become desolate because of its inhabitants, as the result of their deeds.”

Micah reinforces the truth that Israel will return from exile to flourish and prosper once again. The nation would return home to rebuild their walls, even extending their boundaries from before. They would flock home and once again create fertile pasturelands where they could raise crops and livestock to provide food.

How prosperous would Israel be?

So prosperous that other major nations would come to them, nations like Assyria and Egypt. Nations would flock to Israel once again from “sea to sea” and “mountain to mountain”.

In the end translation, Israel was going to rise from the depths and once again be in a position of world prominence, not because of anything they had done but rather because they once again had God on their side. And with Him, anything would once again be possible.

Friends, I’m not sure where you might be today. Maybe you are in the midst of some challenge, hardship, or difficulty and if so, today’s message should bring you some sense of comfort and hope. For if there is anything that the Lord God Almighty has done consistently, it’s been helping people rise out of the depths of the darkness of their harsh circumstances and into the light of His righteousness and provision.

He did it for His people Israel and He will do it for you too. Just be patient, watch, and wait in hope for Him to move in His perfect time.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark
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