Micah 7:5-7 (NKJV)
Elohim Shama (The God who hears me)
February 2, 2025
ILLS: Papi or Babe by Amory (I know you hear me). Jehovah-Shammah – The Lord is There! The Lord Hears. The story of El Shama begins with Hagar and her son Ishmael. Hagar, an Egyptian slave, found herself in the wilderness, frightened, alone, and on the brink of despair. But God heard her cries. He saw her pain. In the midst of her desolation, God showed up, leading Hagar to call Him “El Roi” – the God who sees. Genesis 16:10, “Then the Angel of the LORD said to her, “I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude.” And the Angel of the LORD said to her: “Behold, you are with child, And you shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, Because the LORD has heard your affliction.” Shortly after, Ishmael, Hagar’s son, found himself in a similar situation. He was dying of thirst in the desert, but God heard his cries too. He opened Hagar’s eyes, and she saw a water well, saving Ishmael’s life. From these experiences, we see the character of God as El Shama, the God who listens and responds to our needs, no matter how big or small they may seem. Genesis 21:17, “God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.” So, let me encourage you today – don’t hold back. Speak to God about your joys, your fears, your dreams, and yes, even your struggles. Remember, we serve El Shama – the God who hears, the God who listens. In our text today the Prophet Micah has contemporaries: Amos (Israel) and Hosea (Samaria) and Isaiah (Jerusalem). Unlike Amos (rich) who preached to Israel in the North, Micah (poor) was a prophet sent to his own people, the people of the southern kingdom of Judah. Judah had gone through the disastrous reign of Ahaz, who was a vassal king, a stooge 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 (20 years after he began preaching) and was wary that the same thing was coming in the south. It is in the prophecy of Micah that we find the famous words that are 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.” (6:8). Micah had a vision of darkness in the land, a sense that the country is without any sense of where it is going morally. Micah 3:11 says, “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 has grasped the human condition without God. He details the sins of his people. He details the selfishness that leads to oppression. He details the religious failures of prophets and priests. He details 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. In contrast, society did not view itself as doing anything wrong! Reading throughout Micah you get the sense that the land of Judah sees itself on the right path. So Micah had to face enemies, enemies who criticized him for his preaching. In Micah 2:6, we see a direct confrontation, ‘Do not preach,’ thus they shout, ‘one should not preach of such things.’ Micah’s message was one that was too difficult to hear, but He knew what they wanted. In Micah 2:11 he says, “If someone were to go about uttering empty falsehoods, saying, ‘I will preach to you of wine and strong drink,’ such a one would be the preacher for this people.” That is the kind of preaching people would flock to. WE HAVE BEEN TOLD: Do not preach about politics... Do not preach about money... Do not preach about immorality... Do not preach about the sanctity of marriage... Do not preach about the power of evil, or the devil or the fires of hell, because who wants a scary God. Just tell us a little story, sing us a little song and let us go home. These days we seek the word of one who will soothe our pain, help us to place our blame but without any personal responsibility or without any acknowledgment of our own faults. We want an “On Demand” Preacher who does not know us too well, who we can tell whatever we want, who we can turn off when it gets too hard, who can be replaced by a swipe of a finger. So, the preacher is left with a watered down semi-Christian message about a sentimental God of love. But there is one problem with that. The God whom we are told to preach about, is the god of this World, not the God of the Bible. Micah answered his critics in the midst of this gloomy prophecy in the last chapter. “But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior.” As we wait, we must be wary or cautious.
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.
