But let us turn then to our message this morning, which will be from Micah 7. It is sort of a bittersweet joy to wrap up a sermon series through Micah, which I've enjoyed. I hope it's been enjoyable and beneficial to you all as well. But we are to the final chapter, Micah 7. We'll actually take the whole of it for today's message. So please stand for the reading of God's word from Micah 7. Woe is me, for I am like the fruit pickers, like the grape gatherers. There is not a cluster of grapes to eat, or a first ripe fig which I crave. The godly person has perished from the land, and there is no upright person among men. All of them lie in wait for bloodshed. Each of them hunts the other with a net. Concerning evil, both hands do it well. The prince asks, also the judge, for a bride. And a great man speaks the desire of his soul, so they weave it together. The best of them is like a briar, the most upright like a thorn hedge. The day when you post your watchmen, your punishment will come. Then their confusion will occur. Do not trust in a neighbor. Do not have confidence in a friend. From her who lies in your bosom, guard your lips. For son treats father contemptuously. Daughter rises up against her mother, daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man's enemies are the men of his own household. But as for me, I will watch expectantly for the Lord. I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me. Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy. Though I fall, I will rise. Though I dwell in darkness, the Lord is a light for me. I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my case and executes justice for me. He will bring me out to the light, and I will see his righteousness. Then my enemy will see, and shame will cover her who said to me, where is the Lord your God? My eyes will look on her. At that time she will be trampled down like mire in the streets. It will be a day for building your walls. On that day will your boundary be extended. It will be a day when they will come to you from Assyria and the cities of Egypt, from Egypt even to the Euphrates, from sea to sea and mountain to mountain. and the earth will become desolate because of her inhabitants, on account of the fruit of their deeds. Shepherd your people with your scepter, the flock of your possession, which dwells by itself in the woodland, in the midst of a fruitful field. Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old. As in the days when you came out from the land of Egypt, I will show you miracles. Nations will sing and be ashamed of all their might, They will put their hand on their mouth, their ears will be deaf. They will lick the dust like a serpent, like reptiles of the earth. They will come trembling out of their fortresses. To the Lord our God, they will come in dread, and they will be afraid before you. Who is a God like you, who pardons iniquity, enhances over the rebellious act of the remnant of his possession? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in unchanging love. He will again have compassion on us. He will tread our iniquities underfoot. Yes, you will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. You will give truth to Jacob and unchanging love to Abraham, which you swore to our forefathers from the days of old. Amen? Amen. Let's pray. Dear Father in heaven, even as this prophet in this passage cries out to you that he will and wait, that you, his God, will hear him. Lord, we watch and we wait, even as we prepare to hear a message, to deliver a message from your word, Lord, we watch and wait for you. We pray that you would hear even our prayer now, that you would bless, bless this message, bless our hearing, that you would teach what you desire us to know. Teach us of yourself, of your ways, how we can walk before you. We pray that you would bless, make alive all these things that we do. We ask it for the sake of your son, Jesus Christ. In his name we pray. Amen. Please be seated. All right, well, as I said, we have come in Micah 7 to the end of this shortish, what we call minor prophet, relatively short compared, say, to Jeremiah or Isaiah, Ezekiel, one of the many prophets who spoke to Israel during that time and to Judah during that time of their decline until eventually their exile into Babylon. Micah, who is Relatively early, actually, in that train of prophets calling out to the people of God, particularly the southern kingdom Judah, warning them of impending judgment if they did not turn. We know, in fact, in part because of his prophecies, they did turn and repent, and the Lord gave them grace for more than another hundred years before finally they fell back into sin and were taken away to Babylonian exile. But for the moment, Micah's oracles, chapters 1 through 7, are the oracles of a man who is yet in darkness. His oracles, his warnings of coming judgment, are largely dark. Warning of the sin that brings judgment, and of the evil of judgment, the experience of the judgment that is to come. Beware, he cries. Even though we do have, interspersed with that in typical fashion for the Lord's Prophets, the hope of the one who will finally dispel all the darkness. There's the prophecies of the Messiah to come. So interspersed with flashes, we might say, of future hope. but largely, darkness. Darkness both surrounding the Prophet, in his circumstances, the world where he lives is a dark world, and he sees the greater darkness of coming judgment upon the evil that surrounds him. In chapter 7, it's as if the Prophet, I think very helpfully, sort of steps back, helpfully for us, and says, what do I do in this? I look around me, I see, I see the evil that surrounds me. I see the coming judgment. My neighbors don't see that they reject even they bring it upon themselves. How am I to live in a world like that? A question that is perhaps not that far from the experience of the Christian throughout the ages. So I want to work through this section, this passage from Micah and consider essentially how he is led out of the darkness that surrounds him, into the light of hope that comes at the end of this chapter. But we begin, we begin very much, certainly, in the darkness. And we might call the first six verses simply, woe is me. As it begins, the very first words, woe is me. One of my favorite theologians, Dale Ralph Davis, in his commentary on Micah, captions this section or titles it simply, sometimes you just want to cry. That's more or less the sense, the flavor of this section, as the prophet unfolds fairly comprehensively just the utter darkness that he sees, that he feels, being in this evil time, this evil place. He begins with this vivid metaphor, again, a metaphor suited for his time, with that of the fruit picker, the grape gatherer. You picture your yearning for some fresh, delicious fruit. You come to the orchard. You come to the fig grove. You look about. There's nothing. Nothing there. Your parts, you feel it, you taste it in your mouth. You desire it so much and there's not a drop of comfort. He says that's how he feels, not because he wants a grape, but because he desires a godly person. The godly person, he says, has perished from the land. He says if he looks around and he yearns for somebody who loves God, who's faithful, who's righteous, and he feels as if he can't find a single one. It's interesting, actually, the word translated in my translation, the N-E-S-B, godly person, is actually Hasid, which if you remember our discussion earlier from chapter 6, where he speaks of what God desires to love kindness, in verse 8, chapter 6, verse 8, to do justice, to love kindness, to walk humbly with your God. We said that was the great Hebrew word hesed, again, the idea of, actually later in this chapter, translated, unchanging love. A love that does not change, does not waver, is dedicated and diligent. That love that God desires from us, as he says in chapter 6, verse 8, one who then practices chesed would be the Hebrew word chasid. So in other words, he's looking for someone, again, it's translated here, godly person, he's looking for someone characterized by that godly sort of love, that persistent, consistent, dedicated, unchanging love that God desires, that God models, and he finds not one. He continues, there's no upright person among men comprehensively alone in his desire for some other righteous one who might comfort him, who might walk alongside him. He turns then, it's as if he thinks, okay, well, where might I find hope? Well, perhaps I can find hope in the powerful. Perhaps I can find hope in the ones the Lord has appointed. He sets up governments, he sets up rulers, he gives authority. Perhaps the powerful could be a help to me. Perhaps there is someone to rescue me from the king, the prince, the judge. Yet we're told these are, it says, skillful, skillful men, gifted at evil. They do evil well with both hands. They're diligent, they're dedicated, but it's in corruption. The prince asks the judge for a bribe. The great man speaks the desire of his soul. And it says, it's a vivid metaphor, they weave it together. As in this image again, there's thought, there's purpose, there's planning for evil. They're weaving evil together, these who ought to be the help to the weak. Those who had received earlier in this same book a striking condemnation, again, for those religious leaders, civil leaders who had turned to corruption and selfishness. from the powerful, what about the good? If we move on to verse four, what about those who are, in some sense, upright? The best of them, he compares them to a thorn bush. to a hedge of thorns. If you picture, you know, I'm hoping, well, okay, he seems upright. He seems like, you know, he's not actively corrupt. I run to him for help. It's like running into a hedge. In other words, he may not be actively seeking a bride, but he's not going to help me. He may, if we again think back to what does God desire, justice and to love kindness. He may not be actively unjust, but he's certainly not going to embrace me with kindness. It's like looking for help and warmth. from a thorn bush, even the best, nothing to offer, only a sort of a self-protective thorniness against the pleas of those in need. And then we have that sort of abrupt transition which is fairly characteristic of Hebrew poetry in general, and actually particularly of Micah's style. Honestly, perhaps this even should be when, centuries ago, when the Bible was divided into verses. If I was doing it, I might have made this a separate verse, because it's certainly a separate thought here. As you go from the unhelpful upright, who only guard themselves, then to this new idea, the day when you post your watchmen, your punishment will come. then their confusion will occur. What's going on here? Well, watchmen is very commonly used in the prophets to describe their own prophetic work. The watchman is the one who stands, as it were, on the walls and warns of coming judgment. And as the watchmen are posted, that is then, as it were, if you hear the warning of the watchmen and you do nothing, judgment then is at hand. If the watchman is up there going, beware, the army is here, and you're not responding, the watchman becomes a cry of impending doom. And so as the watchman, if it posted that very day, as they're crying, as the prophet's warning is not heard, that day is when the punishment is imminent. The confusion will fall, the judgment will fall on those around Micah. It's as if he's thinking, well, what of God? And he realizes God, God is coming in judgment. I've been crying out as a watchman, I've been posted here, and nobody's listening. Again, we know actually in God's grace, eventually Hezekiah will hear Micah, and the judgment will be forestalled. But for the moment, his feeling is nobody's listening. Nobody's hearing. The watchman cries in vain, and confusion and judgment is coming. That's most obviously, most imminently, what I can expect even from my God, is his feeling. His judgment is on the verge of breaking. What of those closest to me? I naturally reach out to my neighbor, to my friend, to her who lies in her bosom, your own wife. And yet, so comprehensively has the society degraded and fallen apart that even within their own homes, there's no comfort, there's no help. It feels utterly alone. So if we might summarize the condition, the feeling, the experience of the Prophet, He is first surrounded by evil, surrounded by corruption. Is it everywhere, every corner he turns, perhaps hope, perhaps hell? No, only more darkness. He is anticipating a judgment that only really he sees coming. You're the loneliness of thinking, you guys don't see it. God's judgment is coming and there's nothing, you're not responding, you're not hearing. And finally, he is profoundly alone. no help for him, no hope for him, no comfort for him, as he feels, again, I'm the only one who sees this coming. In some ways, the experience of this prophet is very remote. You probably are not troubled by what you think of a what's my great anxiety for my society. It's not unjust measures in the marketplace, as it was for Micah. There's a different sorts of evil. The judgment that you fear is probably not Assyrian armies sweeping in. It's a remote sort of fear in that, you know, the specific particulars of Micah's experience may be remote. But the general sense, I think, is not especially remote. I think as you hear Micah's experience of his culture in his day, this is, in fact, a typical experience of being God's people in a fallen world. This is something we can all identify with, all God's people can identify. It's what, you know, Elijah felt in 1 Kings. When he had just won that great victory over the prophets of Baal, and then Jezebel sends him threats, I'll destroy you, I'll kill you, and he has a sort of a collapse into depression, and he cries out to the Lord, the sons of Israel have forsaken your covenant, torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they seek my life to take it away. It is the experience even of Christ himself, You know, if you think of Christ, you know, as he's going to the cross, with no friends around him, knowing the judgment, not the judgment he deserves, but seeing a pending judgment that only he knows, only he knows what's coming on himself. As he anticipates the judgment of his own father upon the evil that he's taken to himself, nothing but corruption surrounding him. But it's not just Christ, as we walk in his paths, is that not the experience that he told us to expect? indeed actually even quoted from this very passage. As we turn, if you look at Matthew 10, as Christ is speaking to his followers, warning them of what to expect, as long as they're in a dark world, a fallen world, he tells us to count the cost. And he tells us plainly what it is to be the people of God, to be called to righteousness, to obedience, to identity with him, to have his name upon us in a world which rebels against him. What does he tell us to expect, Matthew 10, beginning at verse 32? Therefore, everyone who confesses me before men, I will also confess him before my Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies me before men, I will also deny him before my Father who is in heaven. Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but I swore, for I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a man's enemies will be the members of his household. He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. He who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he who does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for my sake, we'll find it. There is not darkness forever, but there is a darkness to be expected if we are in the light, as Christ is light. We're surrounded by darkness. That is a threatening, that is a lonely experience at times. So I think that we can rightly sense here, again, there's particulars of the prophet's experience you and I don't relate to. But the experience itself, the feeling, is a profoundly typical feeling of God's people in the world. And so I am thankful to the Lord that he puts this as sort of a reflection on what do I do now, here at the end of this chapter of warning, or this prophecy of warning and judgment. And we come then, out of woe, into hope. It's verse 7, which is the linchpin of this entire chapter. The light, the window, as it were, through which light begins to fall into this darkness. It is the hinge upon which the chapter turns. As the prophet goes face, he's faced with a choice. What am I going to do? I see this. I look around. He's not pessimistic. He's obviously in somewhat of a dark mood, but it's not an unreasonably dark mood. Well, I see all this. What now? What now? Well, verse seven, watch and wait. But as for me, I will watch expectantly for the Lord. And you may notice that's Lord in all caps, perhaps in your translation. The word there is Yahweh God, the coveted name, the personal name of God. I will watch for that Lord who has made promises to his people, who has shown his love throughout generations. He will wait for Yahweh God. I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear." What is that? It is a declaration of, first, don't miss this, first of knowledge. I mean, he's not hoping for good luck. He's not hoping that the universe will turn in his favor. He's hoping in one he knows. Yahweh God, my God, the God of my salvation, that's the one to whom I look. It's a declaration of knowledge. It's a declaration of faith. I'm gonna wait. wait and it's a declaration of patience waiting upon this one I'm not there's nothing I can do it's dark so I'm gonna watch and I'm gonna wait for the God who I know now there's a difficulty I really want to dive in and dig into this verse I think there's there's reflection to be had about What is watching? What is waiting? What is the prophet doing? What ought we doing in similar circumstance? But in some senses, we can't, I think, appreciate this verse until we see how it functions by the inspiration of the Spirit in what unfolds then in the chapter. So I intend to, as it were, sort of skip lightly over this verse for the moment, as important as I think it is, really the heart of the chapter. Skip lightly over it. And I think we can understand enough, and he's watching, waiting upon his God. We'll continue and see how things turn, everything turns, as we continue through the rest of the chapter. Then we'll circle back and reflect more deeply upon this verse, verse 7. But for the moment, onward. And I couldn't decide. I had sort of my own little outline in my head. What should I call these next verses? So we'll call them two different things at once. One, of light. Light breaking into the darkness. Or you can think of it as everything falls into place. Things fall into place as light bursts into the darkness, as the Prophet, really nothing in his circumstance changes. You know, it's not that the Lord has suddenly exploded into the scene and demolished the Assyrians and brought an instant revival and everything is fixed. But despite the circumstances remaining unchanged, his experience, his perception, his hope is radically changed. This is the experience of faith, of the one who does purposely, intentionally watch and wait for the Lord. It's not always easily, not always immediately. But what the Spirit is telling us by giving us this passage is that as we walk this path from the darkness, through hope and expectation, looking to Him, this is the natural result. And I think it is natural in two ways. As so often in God's working in us, and even as it speaks in Philippians, you know, we work and the Lord works. The Lord works in us. But also there's a working of our choices, our obedience, our faith. There is a sort of a natural, you know, sort of this worldly experience, a natural consequence in our choices leading to results that follow in this chapter, but there's also the blessing of the Lord working as we look to Him. Where these things come not simply as, well, I did this, so this followed, but this comes of grace, of blessing, of kind gift from the Spirit as His people, then and now, look to Him what follows by his work in us, as well as just the natural consequence of our own turning to the one who can save. So the first shift, the first light breaking in, first thing falling into place, is in verses 8 through 10. And I actually want to see two different things in these verses, but the first thing is you see a movement, the first thing, a movement from loneliness to communion, a movement from being, again, profoundly alone to being a part of a believing body of God's people, his experience and his perception of himself. Again, verses one through six, profoundly alone. He's looking everywhere and there's nothing to help, no hope. By verse 10 though, he is speaking plainly as a part of the righteous remnant of Zion. And you can see it actually most plainly in the fact that everything suddenly becomes female. We see here, the shame will cover her, who said to me, my eyes will look on her. But it's actually even more plain in Hebrew, where Hebrew is a language where some words have gender that's more apparent than they are in English. So not only is her used, but the actual word my enemy is a female noun used. And interestingly, when the enemy is recounted as having said, where is the Lord? your God, your also is female. That is the adjective there. Your is gendered in Hebrew, and it's a female adjective. Well, why is that significant? Well, in Hebrew, commonly female pronouns are you or female terminology, is used of nations, of groups. Just as we speak of, you know, the nations often, you know, England is, you know, her. Those sorts of things. And so, plainly, Micah's not a woman. So where does this woman come from? It's because now we have, as it were, personified Zion. She, daughter of Zion, speaking to her national enemies, who are also personified in a female, again just sort of that's typical of that language, that the nation is personified as a female. Zion, daughter of Zion, speaks to her enemies. We've shifted from Micah speaking to being a part of the people of God. Indeed, I would note, incidentally, that helps a little bit to understand perhaps some of the violence of the imagery. He's not hoping that some particular woman who is mean to him is going to get trampled down in the street, but he's again speaking symbolically of those evil enemies who have ravished his nation, destroyed, threatened his people, that they too will be trampled down. And Zion, the daughter of Zion, lifted up. So he shifts, and you can see that shift happening, as even in verse 9, for example, he speaks of him, I'll bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him. Well, Micah's, we're not aware of any particular sin Micah has done, I mean, he's not perfect. We're not aware of any particular sin bringing particular judgment upon him. He's speaking again as part of this nation. This nation whose sins, whose sins of their fathers, has rightly brought judgment. He's identified with this people, which even as he sees the impending judgment, surely is a comfort. You know, when is a part, you know, if you see a, if you see a body part off by itself, and here's a finger on the floor, that finger's not doing well. It's not a good sign if there's a body part just, you know, off by itself without a body. We are, again, what is the repeated image throughout Scripture of God's people as a body? And even if you know bad things are coming to a particular part of the body of God's people, it's still better to know you're a part. of the one body of God's people, a part of the congregation, and not simply separate and on your own as he had felt. So as he turns his thought to the Lord, even as we might say in New Testament imagery, as we think of the head of the church, we're naturally led to think of that body, the congregation of the Lord, the people of God, of which we're a part. As we think of the Lord, we are naturally led and helped by the Spirit to remember our place and our part. that bride of Christ, that body of Christ that he loves. And so he moves from a loneliness to an identity with the people of God, but also in these verses, 8 through 10, again, we say the first is a movement from loneliness to community. The second is that his theology, we might say, comes alive. When he knows theologically the truths that he could, that any faithful Jew could say about the Lord, that Yahweh is just, is merciful, we could say he feels it. He recognizes what this means for him, for, we might say, comfort and discomfort, but ultimately for hope. He recognizes, again, verse nine, I know you're just, Lord, and I know we've sinned against you. He recognizes that that nation will bear indignation from the Lord. He recognizes there is judgment coming upon Israel. And if we could say, is it, we're almost resigned to it. He says, look, I know, This is coming upon these people of which I'm a part. You're just, Lord, and I'm prepared. I recognize your justice, even as it comes upon me, in part, by virtue of who I'm a part of. But, but the justice is not only a fearful thing, because indeed, note that dramatic shift, I have sinned against him until, until he pleads my case and executes justice for me. That is, the nations don't have a free hand. You're not just giving up. God is not going to just give up his people, and particularly those trusting in him are not going to be just given up into that ruthless hands of utter destruction. But indeed, the just God of all the earth will remember the plight and the trouble and the pain of his people, even as some of them faithful may be given up, even as Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego sent off into exile, and yet did not God remember and protect them and vindicate them? even in the midst of judgment. So even as he anticipates, yes, you're just, I will bear the indignation for the people of which I'm a part, even my own sin is contributed to it, yet also I know that the justice of God will plead my case and execute justice for me. The very fact of God's justice becomes a comfort for him, as I've noted, ought to be a comfort for us. You know, when you stand before the judgment seat of God, it is the justice of God that's gonna look at you and say, I can't justly punish you. I can't punish you if you're in Christ. I don't want to, but also I can't justly, because he already took it all. And so the justice of God should be of very great comfort to you, because he cannot justly punish you. And again, would not desire to anyway, but cannot justly do it, if Christ has already swallowed up all the punishment that's due you. And so for the Jew then as well, reflecting, again, reflecting thoughtfully, reflecting in faith, upon the justice of God gives a hope to a great hope that he will not unjustly leave them to a punishment that exceeds what is due but will indeed execute justice for them as well and ultimately is not only just but merciful he will bring me out to the light and I will see his righteousness ultimately he expects mercy as his God is merciful So we have then verses 8 through 10, both that movement to communion and this recognition of, I reflect upon, again, by my looking to him, by his spirit helping me, I see the Lord more clearly and I see what it means that he is the sort of God he is in my particular circumstances. And then, Moving on, verses 11 through 13, we said that theology comes alive in the preceding verses. God's promises come alive here, as he speaks of a day for building your walls. Now, it's interesting, we hear walls, various kinds of walls. We might think of, you know, the city wall to protect an embattled city. This is actually not the word. Again, Hebrew has a few words for walls. Walls were somewhat more of a thing back then. And this is not a wall of a city for defense, but rather a wall sort of an agricultural. The wall you might put around your vineyard, where your sheep fold. A wall, in other words, you have to build your walls because you're expanding, you're prospering, you're growing. Oh look, I've got a new field. Better build a wall around it, extending your boundaries, as he says. Then speaks of those from the nations all around the enemies, the embattled nations, coming rather even from sea to sea, mountain to mountain. And of course then, the earth desolate because of her inhabitants, those who refuse, who remain the continuous enemies of God and his people, they are desolate. Again, that justice of God coming against enemies as well. Once his people have been purged and cleansed, those who continue to refuse, they will face that judgment. Now what's interesting about these verses is there's literally nothing new here. If you just go back a few chapters, it's just a reiteration summary of what's already been promised. That great imagery of Mount Zion raised up, everyone sitting under his fig tree and his grapevine, the nations coming in, there's nothing new here. It's as if the Lord is reminding, again, there's the two levels, as the prophet reflects and thinks, okay, I look to the Lord, I wait and expect, what has he promised? Oh, he's promised vindication and glory and hope in the future, and the Spirit reminds and presses those promises upon him. And as he looks in faith to the Lord, the promises that were already his are brought to his mind with comfort and hope for the future. We move on. How do we respond as we, again, feel ourselves part of the people of God? As we reflect upon Him and His nature, what it means for us, as we are reminded of His promises, how do the people of God naturally respond? Well, they respond, verses 14 through 17, with prayer, with petition, and they receive assurance. As the prophet, sort of on behalf of the people, as the faithful remnant calls out to the Lord, shepherd, shepherd your people with your scepter. speaks of him as, again, as a faithful shepherd, a beautiful shepherd, leading his flock, Israel, into peaceful pastures. And where did he get that imagery? Where did he get that idea? He's remembering what was already promised, even as earlier in Micah. We had that promise to God's people in Micah 5, verse 4, speaking of the coming Messiah, he will arise and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they will remain, because at that time you will be great to the ends of the earth. He's saying, look, you promised us this. I'm pleading your promises to you. And what does he receive back? Perhaps in your translation, as in mine, this is in quotes. I think that's right. I don't think it was a voice from heaven. But again, the prophet speaks with the words of the Lord. And so the prophet declares, as in the days when you came out from the land of Egypt, I will show you miracles. He promises that God has not changed. The guy who saved them from death in Egypt can save them even from the judgment that is to come and bring them into greater and better things. May we return then in verses 16 and 17 to sort of a sort of a petition and sort of a repetition of the assurance It's interesting, again, in the original grammar, it's a little unclear if he's saying, let this be, we pray, Lord, that you would cause this to be, or simply rejoicing that it will be. And I think there's something of a mixture here, as he, again, speaks of the nation's coming to the Lord. Note, again, not coming in, oh, our enemies are subdued before us, they're coming to the Lord, their God, is the delight, is the hope. One might note, furthermore, as they come to the Lord in dread, as they're afraid before you, Interesting double imagery, is there not? What is the fear of the Lord? It's the beginning of wisdom, it's the beginning of hope, it's the beginning of life. So this might be, for some, it's a response of faith. Bowing down or the imagery of licking the dust, that's simply a Middle Eastern sort of idiom. Forget submission. Some come in submission, in hope, to life, in fear of the Lord. Others to destruction. One way or the other, he knows that the Lord will have the final say. And so from prayer, from petition, from assurance, fifthly and finally, we move then in verses 18 through 20 to this clearer vision of God which flows into praise, into worship, into doxology. Who is a God like you who pardons iniquity? and passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of his possession. This question, sort of rhetorical question, who is a god like you, is actually commonly, we see it, for example, in the so-called Song of the Sea, after God has cast all the Egyptian army into the Red Sea and rescued Israel through it. The song that is then sung by Israel on the other side, having been rescued, you know, who is a god like you? Commonly we see that in praise of the Lord for military victory. And it's interesting as the prophet, as it were, appropriates this frame yet more glorious victory. If you didn't just kill some entities with swords and arrows, you're destroying my own sin, my own death. You are, as he continues, trampling, treading our iniquities underfoot. The promise, even as Egypt was cast in this, and yes, you will cast their sins into the depths of the sea. Who? Who is a god like you? And why? You know, the praise of God's people is always because of who he is. Why does he does this? Why does he do this? Why does he show mercy? You know, that people of Israel who passed through judgment, rightly, the judgment should have been to death, to destruction. Why did he show them mercy after a purging sort of judgment? Why were they able to come out into rescue, into salvation, into the hope and future for these people? But the hope that is promised was because, verse 18, because he delights in unchanging love. It's because of who he is. He delights in unchanging love and mercy and compassion. And he's a God who keeps his promises. You will give truth to Jacob and unchanging love to Abraham. You swore to the fathers. You said, I'm going to do this. God doesn't change. God can't turn from his word. So because of who he is and what he has said, the prophet rejoices in light of that and calls out to the Lord, who is a God like you with worship? I would note incidentally, again, that word translated here, again, it's fascinating how many ways hesed is translated in the English because it's such a deep and variegated word, but that hesed that the prophet was looking for earlier, that hesed that the Lord delights in in the previous chapter, He's looking for the godly man, the chassid, the one who practices hesed, and he could not find it anywhere. The prophet's found it now. This unchanging love is that same word, that unchanging love is a perfect translation, that love that does not change, is not altered, he's found it. As he looks, as he waits, as he watches, for the Lord is God. And so if we recognize that essential term, that hinge that brings us into this light, that brings things into place. I want to return then and look at verse 7. Verse 7, from which flows out then, this change to the prophets, we might say, again, not his circumstances, but his perception of them. It gives him hope now. despite the fact that circumstances haven't changed. Not because he is promised an immediate salvation from the circumstances, but because he is reminded of his God. Because he is reminded of the faithfulness of his God, of the nature of his God, a God who again delights in unchanging love, a God who keeps his promises. What brings him to that point is verse seven. What is the heart? of verse 7, it is striking even as we look at this beginning declaration, that as for me, I will watch expectantly for the Lord. In the Hebrew it is actually captured well, that as for me, I will watch. There is an emphasis on two things, ordinarily Hebrew would begin with the word, with the verb, sort of, I will watch for Yahweh. Here it begins with I, I, I will watch. This is me. You can think even of, perhaps, Joshua in his great declaration, you know, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. The prophet says, look, I see the darkness around me. As for me, I will watch it spectacularly. The next word isn't watch either. The next word is Yahweh. In Hebrew, it's fairly simple in how it shows emphasis. So essentially, I, Yahweh, will watch for, is basically here. I, looking to him. That's the emphasis, that's the heart of the prophet. It's as if he can't wait to fall into ordinary sense of structure. He's, no, me, for him! I'm watching, is the heart of this passage. He is watching. Not, again, sort of a generic watching, hoping for the manifestation of some good. I'm looking to him. And looking, indeed, in a way that is fixed, that is purposeful. Again, that image of the watchman, it's the same word. The one on the walls. yearning urgently to see something. It's the same word used in Eli when he was, the priest Eli, looking for news of the ark. He was sitting, waiting, watching, hoping, what will be? Or actually in Lamentations, Israel describes her pointless hopes in other nations and false allies who she hoped would come and save her. Same word again, I'm urgently looking, I'm hoping, I'm yearning. That is what the prophet is doing here. urgently looking, hoping fixedly, but also patient. And I will watch, and I will wait. How do we take that, that metaphor? It's interesting, we say watching. I think sometimes it's very easy to use Christian languages, metaphoric languages, and sort of lose, okay, what does that mean? I tell you, I'm not literally watching for God to come save me because God's a spirit, I'm not gonna see him. What does it mean to watch for God to save? I think as we think about it, what would it be to watch, to wait expectantly for the Lord? To think on Him? To train himself? The prophet is training himself, he's reflecting, he's practicing that when he looks and he sees and he panics and he says, there's no one, there's nothing, there's no hope, I turn my thoughts to Yahweh God. I turn to him not only in my mind, but I turn to his word. As again, he's reminded in these passages of prior promises. He reflects upon the word of God. He looks to God's word given to him for hope, for clarity, for promises. Surely the prophet prays. Again, if I'm looking to him, if I'm hoping for him, will I not cry out to him with my heart? I'm praying to the Lord. It's a part of this intentional watch. And surely, is it not also worship? gathering to worship here for Micah, Shirley, worshiping at the temple for us, what we're doing right now. You are watching, you are waiting upon your God, even now, as you sit expectantly for his word, from his revealed, inspired word, you are watching, you're waiting for the Lord. And you ought to do so patiently, I will wait, but also expectantly, because your God now, your God now, the God whose word you hear preached even at this moment, is not a God who has changed from the God of Michael. Your God now is a God who delights in unchanging love to his people. Amen? Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, it is good to be your people. It is good to have you as our God. Lord, we look around us and it is easy to be overwhelmed, to be discouraged by the darkness of a fallen world. Yet Lord, even like Peter walking on the water, help us to look not to the waves, but to our God. Help us to watch and to wait and to know that our God will hear us. Because that is simply the sort of God that you are. Because we cling to your promises, even as your spirit helps us to cling to your promises. We pray that you who give faith as a gift, would work faith in us more and more, not only the faith unto salvation, but the faith to persevere, the faith to trust and to hope, to find true comfort, to find true light in the darkness, to be able to worship you even in a fallen world and trust our Savior who came into the fullness of our dark experience to gather us up and bring us into the light, who indeed is a God like you. We pray in His name. Amen.