The prophet Micah in his ministry had delivered 3 oracles to the people of Israel and Judah. The chapter 6 and 7 is his 3 rd oracle, the final oracle in his book. 6:1 Hear what the Lord says: Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice. 2 Hear, you mountains, the indictment of the Lord, and you enduring foundations of the earth, for the Lord has an indictment against his people, and he will contend with Israel. 3 O my people, what have I done to you? How have I wearied you? Answer me! 4 For I brought you up from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. 5 O my people, remember what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him, and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of the Lord. 6 With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? 7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? 9 The voice of the Lord cries to the city and it is sound wisdom to fear your name: Hear of the rod and of him who appointed it!
10 Can I forget any longer the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is accursed? 11 Shall I acquit the man with wicked scales and with a bag of deceitful weights? 12 Your rich men are full of violence; your inhabitants speak lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth. 13 Therefore I strike you with a grievous blow, making you desolate because of your sins. 14 You shall eat, but not be satisfied, and there shall be hunger within you; you shall put away, but not preserve, and what you preserve I will give to the sword. 15 You shall sow, but not reap; you shall tread olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil; you shall tread grapes, but not drink wine. 16 For you have kept the statutes of Omri, and all the works of the house of Ahab; and you have walked in their counsels, that I may make you a desolation, and your inhabitants a hissing; so you shall bear the scorn of my people. 7:1 Woe is me! For I have become as when the summer fruit has been gathered, as when the grapes have been gleaned: there is no cluster to eat, no first-ripe fig that my soul desires. 2 The godly has perished from the earth, and there is no one upright among mankind; they all lie in wait for blood, and each hunts the other with a net. 3 Their hands are on what is evil, to do it well; the prince and the judge ask for a bribe, and the great man utters the evil desire of his soul;
thus they weave it together. 4 The best of them is like a brier, the most upright of them a thorn hedge. The day of your watchmen, of your punishment, has come; now their confusion is at hand. 5 Put no trust in a neighbor; have no confidence in a friend; guard the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your arms; 6 for the son treats the father with contempt, 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. 7 But as for me, I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me. 8 Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me. 9 I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my cause and executes judgment for me. He will bring me out to the light; I shall look upon his vindication. 10 Then my enemy will see, and shame will cover her who said to me, Where is the Lord your God? My eyes will look upon her; now she will be trampled down like the mire of the streets. 11 A day for the building of your walls!
In that day the boundary shall be far extended. 12 In that day they will come to you, from Assyria and the cities of Egypt, and from Egypt to the River, from sea to sea and from mountain to mountain. 13 But the earth will be desolate because of its inhabitants, for the fruit of their deeds. 14 Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your inheritance, who dwell alone in a forest in the midst of a garden land; let them graze in Bashan and Gilead as in the days of old. 15 As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt, I will show them marvelous things. 16 The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might; they shall lay their hands on their mouths; their ears shall be deaf; 17 they shall lick the dust like a serpent, like the crawling things of the earth; they shall come trembling out of their strongholds; they shall turn in dread to the Lord our God, and they shall be in fear of you. 18 Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. 19 He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.
20 You will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old. This is the last oracle of Micah. One of the challenges of this portion is that, sometimes Micah is speaking on behalf of God as though God Himself were speaking. He speaks in the first person. Sometimes he is speaking to God. Sometimes he is speaking for God. So therefore we need to switch and see, who is he speaking with and how he is speaking and then it all makes sense and it is very simple. And what is going on here? In his first oracle Micah spoke of the Assyrian invasion that will come because of the sin of the land. In his second oracle he speaks about what will happen to the people of Judah, because of their sin, how Babylon will invade them, destroy them, make them a desolation. But in God s will it is all planned out. Because ultimately God s plan is much bigger than Israel. And God will establish His Holy Mountain, and He would gather His people from everywhere and Israel will be a part of it. God s indictment and judgement (6:1 16) Now in his third oracle, it s different. Because we have already established what is going to happen. He doesn t have to repeat and say Well! Babylon is coming. In case you didn t hear me the first time, this is the second time of advertisements Babylon is coming. That is not what he is doing. That has been established already, other prophets are also speaking about it. Therefore Micah is now bringing, God s indictment and judgement to the people. Chapter 6:1-16 is God s indictment and judgement. That is the whole of the chapter. And then in Chapter 7 there are at least two parts. One part verses 1-13 is Micah s lament and hope. And the rest of the chapter is Micah s prayer and praise. So there are these three portions in his 3 rd oracle. God has a case (6:1-2) What was God s indictment? What was God s case? Verses 1 and 2 of chapter 6 tells us that God has a case against the people. And Micah is saying Your courts, O Israel, are definitely not good enough. Because these courts were full of injustice. So he is not talking to the courts. He is not talking to the people, who are in the justice department. But he is now talking to the oldest establishment that is there on earth. He is talking to the mountains. To the foundations that hold the mountains. Because they have been there for a long time, as witnesses to what is going on. And he says Hear! Come! Where? To the mountains. Pay attention. Plead your case before the mountains and let the hills hear your voice. Why? Because God is bringing the indictment that He has against the people to the mountains. He is bringing His case to these ancient hills. And He is saying this is the case I have against you. That is an indictment. Hear the indictment of the Lord. This is my accusation against the people. God has displayed His righteousness (6:3-5) Before God has spoken of the accusation, he has talked what they were doing wrong and what has been going on in the land. But the accusation isn t much of hey, this is what you have been doing wrong. But the accusation is I have displayed my righteousness to you. Verses 3, 4 and 5: God has displayed His righteousness. God s indictment is that I have shown you my righteousness. And He is saying, O! My people! What have I done to you? How have I wearied you? Have I caused you to sin? Are my ways hard? Can you speak up to the mountains? Can you come up here? I have a case. What is the problem? What have I done? It s the classical scene where the mother
or the father say what have I done to you? Tell me child. What is my mistake here? And if you allow the kid to answer, the kid will give you n reasons why he is in the way he is and it all because of you. But here is a heavenly father, who is right in all His dealings, He did not cause them to sin. Unlike you, He is different. He is holy and he is righteous. He says everything I have done, up until this point, displayed my righteousness before you. I brought you out of Egypt. I have redeemed you from slavery. Do you not remember that? What do I do? I displayed my righteousness to you. I sent Moses, Aaron, Miriam. I was displaying my righteousness to you. I showed you who I was, what my heart is towards you. Do you not remember, when a king wanted you destroyed, and how I used a prophet who was corrupt to nevertheless speak good? Don t you remember those guys? Don t you remember from one place to another I brought you? How I carried your forefathers in the wilderness? Don t you remember those details? God is asking questions. Don t you remember your history? Why did I do all that? And God Himself answers in the end of the fifth verse. That you may know the saving acts of the Lord. I did all that so that you might know that I m a saviour. That I save. That I m righteous. Don t you know all of that? The question here is not once again, the indictment isn t. You have done this, you have done that and you have done this. This was wrong, this was wrong, this was wrong. But the indictment here is don t you know who I am? That is the question that God is asking. A lot of us have that problem. When it comes to God, we are counting our sin. But how many of us have asked the question, what do I think about God? What was my life, my heart, my mind speaking concerning who God is? What did I think about God when I did what I did or when I was behaving in a particular manner? Who was God to me at that moment? That is the kind of indictment, God is bringing. What did you think of me? What did you think of what I have done? It is not you did this, you did this and this is wrong, it is not the kindergarten issue that God have with the people. Man misunderstands God s righteous requirement (6:6-7) Here is the response of the people. In verses 6 and 7, here is what an average Israelite said, With what shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before God on High? Ok, you have a case God. Now, how do I come before you? What kind of atonement should I make? Do you want a burnt offering? Like a young calf, a year old? Can you see the arrogance of the people here? So far they have heard the prophets who said, God desires obedience, He doesn t desire sacrifice. And now they are coming back with their knowledge of God and saying Do you want sacrifice? Is that what you are asking for? Shall I come with burnt offerings? Shall I bring thousands of rams? Is that what you what? May be ten thousand rivers of oil? May be you want much more than we can afford, because you are very holy? Or maybe you want my first born? Can the fruit of my body pay for the sin of my soul? It is the right question they are asking with a very wrong attitude. The people didn t have a problem asking these questions. They were already offering up their children to the false gods. For one moment, do not think isn t that Jesus? God offered His son for our soul. It is not that. What is going on here is, people are used to doing this. So they are saying what kind of sacrifice do you prefer right now? How can we close this case? How can we not go to the mountains? How can we have an out-of-court-settlement? What is that you want? And that s a lot of us. We hear of God s Holiness and first think we think is God, what can we do for you? How can I make this go away? I am struggling of this sin. What can I do? What do you want of me? How can I bribe you that this is gone? A lot of our prayers are in that fashion. We just try to strike a deal with God. Bargain with Him somehow, so that God is no longer mad at us. Something is going wrong and we are thinking maybe it s because I have not been doing my quiet time regularly. So if I fix that, God will fix this. So let me fix something. Let me fix God and then I will be fine. God cannot be misunderstood (6:8) In verse 8, Micah is really clear. He says He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you. The arrogance of man is of no use, because God cannot be misunderstood.
God has spoken in His Word. Not only all of His actions displayed his righteousness, but His Word is clear about what He wants. He says, I expected you to do justice, you have not done that. I expected you to show loving kindness, but you literally pulled the flesh of people s bones and cooked them in a pot. This is what you have done. You have not shown love and kindness. I expected you to walk humbly before your God. God s requirements are clear. Many a times we try to cover up our sin, and make it look like we really don t really know what God expects of us. I am not sure what the Bible speaks about this. But you are absolutely sure. And if you are not, God has spoken very clearly. It is not God s fault. It never is. I am not sure what needs to be done. Go to the Bible. Things are very clear there. God s charge against Judah (6:9-12; 16) And therefore the indictment has been made. The case is sure. And therefore God makes His charge against Judah. Verses 9 to 12 and verse 16. What does the charge sheet say? First and foremost, the voice of the Lord cries out to the city, it sound wisdom to fear your name. Micah is telling the people, its good wisdom. Fear the name of the Lord. And here is the problem. Can I forget any longer the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked? God speaks of the treasures of righteousness in His holy house. But people have treasures of wickedness in their wicked houses. That s what is going on. What else is going on? The scant measure that is accursed? When they have to sell something, they used to use weights in such a manner that, if you ask for 1 kilo, you get 950 grams. They are saving on the 50 grams. They have got scant measures. Their measures are accursed. They have wicked scales. They are not balanced scales. They are always imbalanced. They make the profits and the people will be at loss. That is what the wicked do. Bag of deceitful weights. Your rich men are full of violence; your inhabitants speak lies. What s more? Verse 16 says For you have kept the statutes of Omri, and all the works of the house of Ahab; and you have walked in their counsels. The people have chosen the worst of the kings to be their model. The land is full of wickedness and that is the charge of God against them. He has a case and point by point he is laying out the charge sheet. God s judgement upon Judah (6:13-15) Then the judgement in verses 13 through 15, Therefore I strike you with a grievous blow, making you desolate because of your sins. There is a striking that will come and they shall become desolate. Now we know how it will come and through whom it will come. We know that is going to be Babylon. But here is what is going to happen. Here is what the people will feel at that moment. You shall eat, but not be satisfied, and there shall be hunger within you; you shall put away, but not preserve, and what you preserve I will give to the sword. You shall sow, but not reap; you shall tread olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil; you shall tread grapes, but not drink wine. Now what is going on there? What is the situation? They will eat, but there is no satisfaction. They are always hungry. That will be the judgment of God. There is just never enough food. No matter how much you eat, it s just never gonna satisfy. And then you say, I m going to save this much. But you can t save. Because your expenses are always up. And even if you manage to save something, there shall be a sword that will take that money away. In fact you shall have a job, you shall tread olives, but you can t anoint your own head with olive oil or with any other oil. You shall have a job, you shall tread on grapes, but you won t have a drink of wine at all. For some of us, that sounds like our case, same situation. We have got decent jobs. We are earning well enough. But somehow, the expenses are always grater the saving aren t there. There is always a need. But the income can never meet the need. If we managed to have saved something, something comes along, and whatever we managed to save has to be pulled out. There is nothing that can be preserved. And if you just check your life, and you say, hey yes, I have evidence. I have some similar situation in my life then you need to ask yourself this question. Are you being judged by God for something similar? Are you walking in the ways of wickedness and not acknowledging God. On the outside you
are all Christian, but in the inside what is going on? Why is it that this judgement of God, which is supposed to be a grievous blow, is in your life? What is the cause? And you might have some repentance to do. Because this is not a normal situation. It s not a case of famine. There is grapes to tread upon, there are olives to tread upon. There are people who can pay you to tread upon it. Or it s from your own field. Therefore there isn t an issue of famine. There isn t joblessness or unemployment. But yet there is dissatisfaction. There is hunger. There is a situation where you cannot save. And then you got to ask the right question at that time and check your life before God. Why is there judgement? What is the indictment? What does it speak concerning what you believe about God? Because it is not about checking your sin. It is about checking your heart. What do you know about God? What do you believe about God? What do you think? Who do you think God is? That is the question that you must ask. Micah s lament and Hope (7:1-13) Micah laments over the judgement to come (7:1) In the first verse of chapter 7, Micah is lamenting. He says, Woe is me! For I have become as when the summer fruit has been gathered, as when the grapes have been gleaned: there is no cluster to eat, no firstripe fig that my soul desires. He speaks of the indictment and the judgement. He knows it is coming. And now here is his problem. He says I have become as when the summer fruits has been gathered. If you go to the fields after the harvest, there will be no more grape clusters. You want to have a grape. It s all been harvested. It s all gone away. You want to have a fig. It s all gone away. It s no longer in the fields. He says, That is my situation. I m out in the fields looking for something to eat. But there is nothing, because everything has been taken away. That is his situation and that is why he is lamenting. And his lament is right. But what does he mean? What is this fruit that is gone away? Micah recognises that the judgement is deserved (7:2-4) In verse 2, it says The godly has perished from the earth, and there is no one upright among mankind; they all lie in wait for blood, and each hunts the other with a net. And in verse 3, Their hands are on what is evil, to do it well; Now that is crazy. That is crazy because, Micah recognises that there is judgement and people have gotten corrupt. The good have become bad. And they are good at being bad. They do it well. What are they doing? The prince and the judge ask for a bribe. Now we know that that is what had happened. The rulers as well as the law enforcement officials are corrupt. So they ask for a bribe. That is understandable. The great man utters the evil desire of his soul. So now the one who gives bribe, the great man, the one who has money, he tells them, This is what I want done. He tells them the evil desire of his soul. And then they weave it together. They do it really well. The one who pays the bribe and the one who receives the bribe together weave such a wonderful mesh. They are able to be so wicked. The land is corrupt. The best of them is like a brier, the most upright of them a thorn hedge. Micah is lamenting. He says goodness is gone out of the land. It has all become wicked and that is why he is lamenting. And he knows that what is happening, the sinfulness is true. He is not crying like the first chapter, because of the judgement. He recognises here that the judgement is deserved, and that is why he is crying. It is like they so deserve this. Everyone that was good, is now become bad. People have become wicked. And he is lamenting. And he sees that the judgement is so deserved. And therefore he now instructs the people to no longer trust anybody, because there is going to be confusion. Micah instructs people to not to trust anybody because there will be confusion (7:4-6) In the second half of verse 4, he says, The day of your watchmen, of your punishment, has come; now their confusion is at hand. He is crying because it was wickedness. And he knows because of the wickedness there is going to be judgement. And the judgement will be one where there is so much of confusion. If you remember there will be a siege on Jerusalem and that happened when Nebuchadnezzar came and placed the siege on Jerusalem. But what would happen in a siege is that, the people are trying to get out. You want to make your way to get out. If you knew, that somebody is going to come and place a lock down upon this room, and make sure that everyone dies. And if you had the power to make sure that you would be spared from this death, would you probably use that
power to get out? Maybe you and your family? Or if you wanted to get rid of your family, just you, to just get out of that? There are so many movies made with that theme, there is going to be a great destruction, and those who can pay their way out of this destruction would pay their way and they would escape. They would get on to some kind of an ark that would save them from the flood. Now, that is what Micah is prophesying. He is instructing people don t trust anybody because there is going to be confusion. That s probably what happened during siege. We do not have records of exactly what happened, but for sure that is what happened if you know there is going to be a siege. Because you cannot have one, without people on the inside the rats who rat out. And who instruct and say, here is where the water comes from and here is where the food supply comes from. You need to have the intel. And unless you get that intel, you just can t go and lock down somebody. That is not possible. You can t wage war that way. And knowing that, he is already prophesying, here is that what is going to happen, there is going to be a confusion. So don t trust anybody. Don t trust your neighbour. Don t even have confidence in a friend. They might rat you out. In fact, guard the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your arms; that is a terrible situation. From the one whom you are intimate with, your wife, your girl friend, He is not answering the questions of morality, but he is say, there is somebody, even the woman you are intimate with, watch out what you say to her. Because, you can t even trust her. The situation will be so bad. In fact, the son treats the father with contempt, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-inlaw against her mother-in-law; a man's enemies are the men of his own house. He is not going to save his own family, if he can get out. He wouldn t be a part of that siege. But he wants to escape. And that is what is going to happen and Micah is lamenting. He says, what a wicked situation, those that are good are going to become evil. We need to be thankful that similar situations are coming forth. In the future, Jesus has promised that there will be a tribulation. But thankfully he is our advocate who had prayed for us and said, for the sake of the elect those days have been reduced. Or else, probably we would be no different from this neighbour, from this friend, who would make their own way out and leave their family behind. We re wicked that way. Micah hopes in the Lord (7:7-13) But then, Micah says, But as for me, I will look to the Lord. Micah hopes in the Lord. His lament doesn t end there seeing, all the wicked, but he has hope and says,, I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me. The situation will come, if I m around, I still have hope in the Lord. So he tells that, Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me. I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him. Here is Micah, identifying himself as a sinner. He is prophet but nevertheless a sinner. He says, if I m around when that happens, and if God s indignation comes, then I would be the one who is probably going to Babylon myself. I ll be among those who are exiled, most probably. He is not prophesying here. We don t know if Micah went. But this much we know, that Micah says, if that were to be my case, I will have hope in the Lord. Why? Because until he pleads my cause and executes judgment for me. He will bring me out to the light; I shall look upon his vindication. I will still have hope on him. He will vindicate me and Then my enemy will see, and shame will cover her who said to me, Where is the Lord your God? There is one thing, we can be sure of that; the righteous don t necessarily escape the situation that the unrighteous go through. If there is a recession, a born again, church going, Bible practicing believer can and will lose his job. When an earthquake strikes a Christian might get buried under heavy concrete. We don t have guarantees that that will not happen. When pestilence comes when there will be situational diseases spreads an epidemic, a Christian will fall ill. He will succumb to the illness. We don t have the guarantees that that will not happen. A Christian s, house can be burgled. But here is what we can know and the hope which Micah has, we can have, that God will vindicate us where it really matters. Where people cannot look down and say, well this is happened because they were evil. No. God will vindicate. People will ask, where is your lord, Where is your God? And your eyes can look upon such a person and know for sure, that they will be trampled down like a mire of the streets one day in God s judgement.
That much hope we can have like Micah did, he says It doesn t matter what happens to me really in the smaller scheme of things, because in the larger scheme of things I know exactly what God is going to do with me. When I fall I will rise, In the darkness the Lord will be my light that much I can be sure of, where it really matters God is going to be there. That is the hope that we have, but I want to ask you this question this morning - when trouble comes your way where is your hope? Is your hope on the promises of God? Micah has this hope because he knows what God has said that God is going to draw all people to him, God is going to have his mountain on Zion, he is going to be there, he is going to be God, and he is going to be the Judge and the Peace. Micah knows what the truth is and he knows that God will vindicate him because he is the perfect Judge. Is your hope in who God says he is? Or is your hope in wishful thinking? I don t think God would allow such a situation in my life, I believe God is like this and I believe God is like that Is it your wishful thinking that gives you hope? Or who God says he is and what he said he will do? Many a times Christians will say that I don t think God will put us to shame like that or I don t think we will fall in a situation where we might not have a Job and might have to ask somebody for money. Many a times we say Oh no! No evil shall befall me and our daughters are safe. How can we come to such conclusions in a fallen world? that s wishful thinking. Micah trusts that God will do what He has promised (7:10-13) We can trust in the goodness of the lord and his providence, but nonetheless we know where it really matters he is on our side, rather he has picked us to be on his side. What is the hope that we have? Do we trust that God will rescue us because there is such assurance in the Bible? Or do we really desire that God would do something according to our will? Where is your hope in suffering and in sorrow? Your hope - does it come out of some work of fiction or fairy tale? Or some knight in shining armour that will rescue you from your problems? What is your hope in the Lord? That is what we have to learn from Micah, because Micah trust that God will do what he has promised. He says that in (verses 11-13) A day for the building of your walls! In that day the boundary shall be far extended. In that day they will come to you, from Assyria and the cities of Egypt, and from Egypt to the River, from sea to sea and from mountain to mountain. He is going back and quoting that promise where God is going to bring all people to him. He says on that day God s people boundaries will be extended. His hope is in the Lord and not in his own thinking, not because he was a prophet, not because he had an office in the kingdom of God. No! He says that the Earth would be desolate and he can look down upon those who look down upon him in bad times, because they are wicked and the Earth would be desolate and its inhabitants will not be there, they will be in Hell for the fruit of their deeds. On that great day he can look down on the situation because God has vindicated him not because he was a good man. But because he knows what God said and he would do and therefore he has a hope in the Lord not in himself. Micah s prayer and praise (7:14-20) And finally having spoken of what God has said he would do, having seen the situation that is going to come and the hope that he has, Micah prays. Micah s prayer (7:14-15) His Prayer is in (verse 14 & 15), Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your inheritance, who dwell alone in a forest in the midst of a garden land; let them graze in Bashan and Gilead as in the days of old. As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt, I will show them marvellous things. He is making a prayer. Lord you take care of them you bring them to a good place as in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt resting in the people. Like how you guys came out like those days I am praying to God that it will happen. Micah is making this prayer because he thinks it is the right thing to Pray. He says Lord shepherd them, take care of them, look after them, bring them to the good land.
God s surprising response (7:15-17) Now many a times we also pray like Micah, we are instructing God what God must do, and we don t really realise what God s will is and Micah the Prophet is in that situation as well. He is praying and saying Shepherd your flock Lord you take care of them, you do what I ask you to do because of what I have said you would do and here is what God says I will show them marvellous things it s a surprising response of God. He says that I will show them marvellous things not the way you re saying but I have got a different way. The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might my people will be mighty that is what I am going to do. I am not just going to bring them to the nice land and they can graze but I will make them mighty and the people who shall see this they shall lay their hands on their mouths and their ears shall be deaf, such a powerful thing will happen. They shall lick the dust like a serpent, because they are on the floor, like the crawling things on the Earth. They shall come trembling out of their strongholds. They shall turn in dread to the Lord our God, and they shall be in fear of you God s people. That hasn t happened for Israel, but that is going to happen when God s people reigning with him here on the Earth and the wicked will be in the dread of God s people. God is saying it s not about shepherding them and bringing them to a good place, I will do that. I have got bigger things in mind. Suddenly Micah prayer looks so little. Because he asks for something so little and God says I am doing something so much more bigger and sometimes we are like that, we are busy instructing God not having a clue what God has in mind and God says shh I will show you marvellous things. I have got bigger things in mind and your finite mind cannot even comprehend what I have got in store. Micah s praise (7:18-20) So, then Micah does the right thing in (verses 18-20). He just praises God. in fact he uses his own name in his praise. His name is Micaiah in Hebrew which means Who is like Yahweh? Who is like the Lord? He says who is a God like you? You pardon iniquity and you pass over our transgressions for the sake of the remnant of your inheritance. You do not retain your anger forever, because you delight in steadfast love. Again you will have compassion on us and you will tread our iniquities underfoot and not us. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea and you will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old. Here is the thing, sometimes when you are tempted to tell God what to do, remember who God is and what he said he will do, and just praise God because of who he is and there is nobody like him. Micah wanted God to shepherd the people to bring them back to a good place, where he says Lord you have said you will show them steadfast love, you are a God who forgives Sin for the sake of the remnant, for your inheritance. I am just going to praise you and I am not going to tell you what to do. I am going to thank you because you have a plan, you have a purpose and you are doing that, and that s what we have to learn from Micah. From this book God has spoken about what he is going to do and there are parts that he has done and there are parts yet to happen, he said he is going to do them. Let us trust him. There will be a day where God s people will reign with God and the wicked will perish. We can look forward to that, we can look forward to God being God and there being no one like him and we can praise him for he is God.