I Will Rise Series

Micah 7:8 (NKJV)

“I Will Rise”

September 29, 2024

Judah had gone through the disastrous reign of Ahaz, who was a vassal to the Assyrians, who desecrated the Temple of God in Jerusalem, who had engaged in child sacrifice to appease his Assyrian masters. Micah was prophesying in the reign of Ahaz’s son, Hezekiah, who was a good man, but still wondered about an alliance with the Assyrians or the Egyptians. Micah had witnessed the fall of the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 722BC and did not wish to see the same things in the south. It is in Micah that we find the famous statement that is etched in the Library of Congress in Washington DC, “What does the Lord require of you, to seek justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6). As with most of the prophets, Micah has a great concern about the moral lives of the people. There is a great vision of darkness in the land, a great sense that the country is without any sense of where it is going morally. “The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet they lean upon the LORD, and say, Is not the LORD in the midst of us? No evil shall come upon us.” (Micah 3). Micah has grasped the human condition without God. He details the sins of his people, the selfishness that leads to oppression, the religious failures of prophets and priests, and the violence that had become all too common in his world. Families in disarray, communities in trouble, institutions that were supposed to hold the nation together simply falling apart. Nothing was as it should be. Judges cannot be trusted. He says in our chapter today verse 5, that neighbors should not be trusted. Do not confide in friends or even in your wife. Sons are against fathers, daughters against mothers. Does this sound familiar to anyone? In contrast, society did not view itself as doing anything wrong! Judah sees itself on the right path! So, the Prophet Micah had to face enemies, enemies who criticized him for Whom he stood for. “Do not rejoice over me, my enemy;” NOTE: The enemy is the one spoken of in verse 10 who says, “Where is the LORD your God?” Make sure you know who the enemy is or else you will be fighting the wrong war! – The enemy is not your boss, the enemy is not your minister, the enemy is not your deacon, the enemy is not your spouse, the enemy is not your parent, the enemy is not your teacher. The “enemy” is the World! "Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light." The enemy may have overwhelmed you with trouble, he may have even tripped you up and you may have stumbled, but being down is not where God has destined you to be. Down is not your destiny! You shall rise!

Our Sin - When I fall, I will arise! There is an old saying that goes, “You can’t keep a good man down.” King Solomon wrote in Proverbs 24:16, “For though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again.” A person who trusts in the Lord and depends on God throughout his life may trip and fall over and over again, but he won’t stay down. He will overcome obstacles and challenges by God’s grace and strength, dusting himself off and rising again. Resilience is one of the blessings of those who choose right living because God is on their side. King David said in Psalm 37, “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and He delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; For the Lord upholds him with His hand.” Even when enemies rage against them, the righteous can say, “Do not gloat over me, my enemies! For though I fall, I will rise again. Though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light” (NLT). We can’t let shortcomings and failures keep us down and discouraged. We will make many mistakes in this walk of faith, but God will give us the strength to get up, get over it, try again, and succeed. Paul said to the Ephesians, “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (2:4). I know I will rise in the ages to come, because I have been raised up together with Jesus and God made me sit together with Him in heavenly places!