Light When Hopelessness Reigns

Light When Hopelessness Reigns

Micah

Introduction

I don’t think anyone can deny that there is a darkest in our world that can work to steal our hope and keep us discouraged. ”Corrie" ten Boom worked with her father, her sister, and other family members to help many Jewish people escape from the Nazis during the Holocaust in World War II by hiding them in her home. They were caught, and she was arrested and sent to a concentration camp. She wrote, “The blacker the night around us grew, the brighter and truer and more beautiful burned the word of God.”

In whatever darkness we are facing, we must always seek out the light of the Word of God. This is the theme of the prophet Micah. Over the next few weeks we are going to look at some passages from the prophets. Gary Hampton called these “Seldom Studied Scriptures”. Reading the prophets can be challenging. Micah is no different.

Micah was a country prophet with passion for justice and mercy. His name means “Who is like the Lord?” Micah preached in the rural areas of Judah. He was a native of a small village near the Philistine border. Jerusalem was only 20 miles away. Tekoa, the home of Amos, was 17 miles to the east. (Yates) “No prophet is more bitter - we might almost say more savage - in his condemnation of the social evils of his day…He stood for righteousness; and for a type of righteousness which gave full value to the rights and needs of human personality.” (Yates) He identified the sins of the people in his region as they lived apart from God: Micah 2:2 “They covet fields and seize them, and houses, and take them. They defraud people of their homes, they rob them of their inheritance.”

As Micah fought the darkness and hopelessness, so must we.

1. EVIDENCE OF DARKNESS

Micah spoke about a growing darkness among God’s people. Their enemies the Assyrians would overtake them. They had given up on following God, instead giving themselves over to idolatry and selfish interests. They were greedy and took advantage of others. Under judgment of God for the way they were living.

Micah 2:2-5 NLT

Attention! Let all the people of the world listen! Let the earth and everything in it hear. The Sovereign Lord is making accusations against you; the Lord speaks from his holy Temple. Look The Lord is coming! He leaves his throne in heaven and tramples the heights of the earth. The mountains melt beneath his feet and flow into the valleys like wax in a fire, like water pouring down a hill. And why is this happening? Because of the rebellion of Israel— yes, the sins of the whole nation. …

Do you ever feel like there is a growing darkness in our world? Proverbs 4:19 But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble. What is the evidence of darkness in our own lives?

-Selfishness - Our focus and attention has turned inward.

-Pride - how we deal with other people, focused on what we can get, have, acquire.

-Coldness - loss of compassion / concern for the lost and for the hurting.

-Sin is unchecked, unrepented, not avoided.

-Drifting away from God in actions and heart.

When we find our lives growing in darkness, we should hear Micah’s hopeful message.

2. ELIMINATION OF DARKNESS: Hope is on the horizon!

Micah 5:2-5

But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village among all the people of Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel, whose origins are in the distant past, will come from you on my behalf…. And he will stand to lead his flock with the Lord’s strength, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. Then his people will live there undisturbed, for he will be highly honored around the world. And he will be the source of peace.

Micah: the Messiah is coming: Micah 5:2-5. Out of Bethlehem:

-One who will be ruler over Israel.

-One whose origins are from of old, from ancient times

-One who will shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord

-One whose work will reach to the ends of the earth

-One who would be our peace

Micah 4:3-4 “They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.”

Jesus is the light of the world!

John 8:12 “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Wherever hope is disappearing, Jesus Christ is the strong source of certain hope.

When we embrace Christ by faith, baptism, and continued discipleship we place our hope firmly in Him.

You Are the Light!

The light of Jesus is not just a prophecy, nor something confined to the first century, but currently ablaze in you!