Elohim Shama (The God Who Hears)

1. Be Wary - Do not trust in a friend; Do not put your confidence in a companion; Guard the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your bosom. Nothing was as it should be. Judges cannot be trusted. Neighbors should not be trusted. Do not completely confide in friends or even in your spouse over your God. Sons are against fathers, daughters against mothers. Jeremiah 17:5 says, “Thus saith the LORD: Cursed is the one that trusts in man and makes flesh his strength; whose heart turns away from the LORD.” David says in the Psalms (118:8), “It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.” Jesus quotes from Micah in Matthew 10:35 and explains what Micah means, “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” We must put our trust in Jesus and Jesus alone, because He hears our cry.

2. Be Watching - For Son dishonors father, Daughter rises against her mother, Daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; A man's enemies are the men of his own household. Therefore I will look to the Lord; NIV says, But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD! Even as he watched his world disintegrate, he looked in hope for the coming of his God. We are to be like what the Hebrew writer says, “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” We must open our eyes and watch in hope!

3. Be Waiting - I will wait for the God of my salvation; My God will hear me. He is Elohim Shama! As you read on in Micah’s chapter seven, you begin to realize that the God Micah waits for, the God who is Micah’s hope for salvation, is the God who hears! Psalm 27:14 Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD. He does not look for the sentimental God of success and prosperity that his countrymen looked for. For he writes, “Because I have sinned against him, I will bear the Lord’s wrath, until he pleads my case and establishes my right.” (Micah 7:9). Micah knows that his sins will not go unpunished. He knows that sin brings the wrath of God. Paul teaches in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” WE MUST KNOW THAT OUR SIN IS GREAT BUT OUR GOD IS GREATER BECAUSE HE PLEADS OUR CASE! - 1 John 5:14 - This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of Him.