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!
“All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.”— St. Francis of Assisi
How do we make a difference in a dark world?
Micah 6:8 AMPC “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, and to love kindness and mercy, and to humble yourself and walk humbly with your God?”
Act justly
Justice is fair-mindedness in action… it has to do with… Business relationships / In the workplace ... Family relationships/church relationships ... Community relationships. How we judge/think about one another. Treat people as God would treat them. God is a just God and we should be eager to imitate him in all of our life. Justice is about DOING what is right in God’s eyes.
Love mercy
Extend mercy and kindness as we have needed mercy and kindness. We desire mercy from God, and we realize the joy at receiving mercy. How many people around us are victimized in a hundred ways by life and would be blessed by an act, word, or attitude of mercy from a Christian?
“Merely to be kind does not sound so very heroic, yet nothing would do more to sweeten life and to change human desert into garden than plain, everyday kindness.” -Chappell
Mercy and kindness is needed in all of our relationships.
Walk Humbly with God.
Give up the focus on self and let God be primary in your life. The closer I walk with God the more merciful, kind, and Just I will be. God is the source of these qualities, not just the source of the command. This is what He wants for our lives and what He produces in our lives.
Conclusion
The prophecy of the country prophet rings true today. We live in a time of growing darkness. We need to remember the promise of light in Jesus Christ. We need to live in such a way as to help the world around us to
discover light in their lives.
Micah 7:8 “…Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light”
“The blacker the night around us grew, the brighter and truer and more beautiful burned the word of God.” - C. T. Boom
Only in Christ can we find light when hopelessness reigns.
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LifeGroup Bible Class Questions
1. If you could ask God to change/fix/repair one problem in the world today, what would it be?
2. The ‘minor prophets’ are seldom studied. What makes studying them difficult? What has helped you to understand them? What is the value of studying them?
3. How might Micah’s roots as a ‘country preacher’, living in a village 20 miles from Jerusalem give him insights as to how needful it is to experience justice and mercy from others?
4. Who were some of the people who were responsible for the nation’s slide into idolatry according to Micah 3:9-11? Why do you think the blame rests on them?
5. Micah 5:2 is a famous Messianic prophecy (see Matthew 2:5-6; Luke 2:4-7; John 7:42). What do we learn about our God in that He would give a message of hope to people who were living in such unfaithfulness (via Micah)?
6. “Micah wanted the people to know that every unsocial act was an insult to God. In his own way God looks on the conduct of rulers and nobles who drive the poor from their homes, plunder the public, steal, bribe and pander to the wealthy, and he is deeply offended by their behavior. Because of all these offenses the Lord is determined to bring them into judgment.” (Kyle Yates, Preaching From the Prophets)
-Why do some people separate their everyday lives from their religious acts?
-How can I make sure that I do not segment my life into religious/secular sections, thus making the same mistake?
7. Why do God’s people often need reminders that it is our hearts and not only our actions that are the true test of faithfulness?
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Resources
Boom, Corrie Ten. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corrie_ten_Boom
Chappell, Clovis. And The Prophets. Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, 1946.
Hampton, Gary C. Seldom Studied Scriptures. J. C. Choate Publications, 1987.
Lewis, Jack P. The Minor Prophets. Baker Book House, 1966.
Limburg, James. Interpretation, A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching:
Hosea-Micah. John Knox Press, 1988.
Strayhorn, Billy. A sermon called The Short List
https://www.sermonwriter.com/sermons/micah-61-8-the-short-list-strayhorn/
Yates, Kyle M. Preaching From the Prophets. Broadman Press, 1942.
