Read Micah 6:1-7:7
In this study, we will pick up where we left off last time, where we learned that Christ has become our triumphant king by humbly serving us. As we move into chapter 7, I want you to see that he humbly serves us because he has compassion on us, a people who have wrecked ourselves by selfish living.
Micah’s world has fallen apart. The nation he was devoted to, the church he loved, the society he had taken so much joy in, and the leaders he had trusted had become utterly chaotic because God gave the people over to their rebellion. Other prophets had experienced similar depressed conditions. Jeremiah was rejected by his people and deported with them to Babylon. Habakkuk and Jonah were similarly disillusioned. And of course, Elijah’s disillusionment with his countrymen was so strong that he concluded that he was all alone and despaired of life itself. Micah’s cultural context was as depressing as any of these, but his perspective is very different. There is no hint of such despair. What makes the difference? I think the answer is tucked away in 6:9—Micah “feared” the Lord, and it produced wisdom.
Watch for hope
The fear of the Lord Micah is describing is not servile terror. This fear that Micah describes is the sort of fear that God took note of in Abraham after he had shown his willingness to sacrifice Isaac. After God’s angel stopped the sacrifice and pointed out the substitute ram God had provided, he said, “Now I know that you fear me.” As John Murray explains, this fear is a comprehensive God-consciousness. It is a mindset that refuses to view any situation except through the lens of the sovereign grace of God, which produces hope. So when God called Abraham to sacrifice Isaac after he had promised numerous descendants through Isaac, Abraham viewed the command through the lens of God’s goodness and faithfulness. If his hope had been based on his son’s life, he surely would have lost hope and become embittered. But because his eyes were focused on the faithful God, he drew out of this world conclusions like, “Well, it must be that he is going to raise my son from the dead!” There is only one way to live in hope—by focusing your eyes on the Lord and resting in his assurance that he is causing all things to work together for the good of those who love him and for the praise of his glorious grace.
When you look at the God who has revealed his goodness, grace, and faithfulness in the person of Christ you cannot help but observe the posture of one who is eager to hear his child.
Wait for salvation
Secondly, viewing all of reality through the interpretive lens of God’s sovereign grace will produce patience to wait for God’s salvation. One of Micah’s contemporaries promised that waiting on the Lord is to wait on one who never grows weary or faints (Is. 40:28-29). If you continue to get yourself out your fixes with your own resources and machinations, you will run out of steam eventually. One who waits on the Lord will thrive even when all other normal resources are exhausted (Hab. 3:17-19).
Expect to be heard
Finally, Micah shows that fearing God means you expect that you will be heard by God. Those are the eyes of faith. When you look at the God who has revealed his goodness, grace, and faithfulness in the person of Christ, you cannot help but observe the posture of a God who is eager to hear his child. Stephen, the martyr in Acts, looked up while his torturers were pelting him with rocks and saw Christ standing at the right hand of God. Why was he standing? Because Jesus was peering after his servant. That is always Jesus’ posture, the only question is whether you are looking at it or not by faith. Prayer, the word, fellowship, and worship will always pull back the curtains of heaven and refocus your bleary eyes on the Lord who strains to listen for even the faintest cry of his child.
Even—better yet, especially—in the midst of the many hard words the prophets spoke to God's rebellious people, Jesus is written into every page to point them and us to the savior who came to redeem even the worst of sinners.