CRITICAL NOTES.
Micah 7:7.] Having no hope from man, the prophet looks to God, and speaks in the name of the Church. Salv.] i.e. from whom all help comes.
Micah 7:8. Rejoice] The enemy must not think this condition to be perpetual; light will break through the darkness.
Micah 7:9.]. Hence bear patiently the inflicted punishment (Lamentations 3:39), until] the promise of Micah 7:8 is fulfilled.
Micah 7:10. Then] the enemy will discover her mistake, be covered with shame, and be prostrated in the dust (Isaiah 10:6).
HOMILETICS
THREE RESOLUTIONS.—Micah 7:7
The prophet is predicting a period which marvellously corresponds to the first age of the Christian era. For, he says, the day of thy watchmen and thy visitation cometh, the time our Lord foretold, when Jerusalem was destroyed. Then the Church was as sheep among wolves. Princes indeed did evil with both hands earnestly. Judges like Pilate could pronounce in a breath, that the accused was innocent and yet condemn. Treachery crept into every home. Hypocrisy prevailed the land over. The Church was in the midst of uncompromising enemies. The nearest of their relatives, as fathers and sons, betrayed them to persecution and death. There was no help for them in man. So the eyes of faith turned to God alone. He would not fail them. Each of us should adopt these resolutions. Many reasons indicate the wisdom of so doing.
I. The resolution of faith. “I will look.”
1. The promises encourage me.
2. Experience teaches me.
3. The Lord commands me.
4. The engagement will comfort me.
II. The resolution of patience. “I will wait.”
1. For his time is best.
2. For his blessing is worth waiting for.
3. For I shall not be disappointed.
III. The confidence of hope. “God will hear.”
1. Though my cry be feeble and my faith weak.
2. Though my request be great.
3. Though others disdain me.
4. Though I am alone. Few pleaders in Israel.
5. For he is near [Stems and Twigs].
He turned away from creatures, knowing they were broken cisterns that could hold no water; and turned towards God “the fountain of living waters.” “Therefore,” he says, “I will look unto the Lord.” Observe, first, that this is a designed experience, and not a casual one, on God’s side. God is more concerned for our welfare than we are ourselves—does not wait for our application, but excites it. For this purpose He has given the Sabbath, the Scriptures, the sanctuary, and the preaching of the Gospel. All these dispensations are arranged in subserviency to the purpose of his grace and our afflictions. He therefore says, “I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offences and seek my face.” Elihu, reviewing afflictive dispensations, says, “All these things worketh God oftentimes with man, to bring back his soul from the pit,” &c. Observe, secondly, it is a necessary experience on our part. God does nothing needlessly, and we may be assured that he doth not “afflict willingly.” We have a strong propensity to turn away, to make flesh our arm, and earth our home; but “the prosperity of fools destroys them,” the things ordained for their welfare prove “a trap.” Hence, though trying, these dispensations improve us by the goodness of God. He “hedges up our way with thorns,” that we may not be able to “find our paths.” He embitters earth, that heaven may be endeared, and verifies the language of Dr. Young: “Our hearts are fasten’d to the world,” &c. Oh! it is a blessed experience when, with the Church, we are thrown from ourselves and from creatures upon the Divine resources [Jay].
GOD MAINTAINING THE INTERESTS AND SECURING THE TRIUMPH OF HIS PEOPLE.—Micah 7:8-10
Now the Prophet holds out hope, and gives special grounds of consolation and encouragement. God watches over his people, and will not suffer them to be destroyed.
I. The sad condition of God’s people.
1. Cast into trouble. “When I fall.” The strongest saint is infirm and liable to fall. Sin within and temptation without overcome us. Disasters may strip us of everything, and sorrow bring to the grave. But the fall shall not be fatal. “Though he fall he shall not be utterly cast down.”
2. Sitting in darkness. “I sit in darkness.” The darkness of doubt, captivity, and mysterious providence. Clouds hang over us, friends desert us, and shadows hide God from us. “We walk in darkness and have no light” (Isaiah 50:10).
3. Mocked by the enemy. The enemy has advantage sometimes over God’s people, and treats them with insult and reproach. The world exults at the fall of a godly man. “Malice is folly,” says one, “and when it holds a festival its tones and gestures far exceed all the freaks and mummeries of the lord of misrule.” “They opened their mouth wide against me, and said, Aha, Aha, our eye hath seen it.”
II. The blessed hope of God’s people. God chastises his children, but does not give them up to despair. Neither despond nor mistrust him. “He shall deliver thee in six troubles, yea, in seven shall no evil touch thee.”
1. Lifted up from trouble. “I shall rise.” Trials have their limits and design. If we “have the will to rise, he is at hand who will cause thee to rise,” says a Father. The sinner lies when he falls, and perishes without recovery. “For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.”
2. Enlightened in darkness. “The Lord a light unto me.” Shadows disperse; joy and brightness beam upon our lot. Darkness of sorrow and ill-repute flee away, and noon-day splendours shine again. “The Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light.”
3. Restoration to lost privileges. God will declare the right of his people, make their glory conspicuous, and restore them to former dignities. They shall be publicly honoured and greatly enriched with the covenant blessings. “I shall behold his righteousness.”
III. The sure triumph of God’s people. The truly godly man has been subject to derision in every age. Men have asked in scorn, “Where is the Lord thy God?” But the triumph of the wicked is short.
1. Joy will be turned to shame. The enemy rejoiced in God’s apparent forgetfulness of his people, and laughed at their profession of confidence in him. But God punished the blasphemy cast upon his name and the calumny heaped upon his children. The enemy was disappointed, confounded, and covered with shame.
2. Deliverance from the enemy will be complete. Judgment will be executed upon the enemy. He will be treated as straw, and trodden as mire in the streets. “And they shall be as mighty men which tread down their enemies in the mire of the streets in the battle; and they shall fight because the Lord is with them.”
LIGHT IN DARKNESS.—Micah 7:7
1. In dark spiritual experience God will be a light unto us. When sin is strong and grace is weak—when comforts fail and sorrows multiply—when faith yields and unbelief prevails—when we search for God and find him not—then he will succour and fill our hearts with light and gladness.
2. In dark providential dispensations God will be a light unto us. When the clouds are black above, and our way is dark, and we know not where to go—when every fresh turn of events serves to increase our perplexity—when the scenes through which we pass defy all mortal wisdom—then he will disperse the gloom and reveal our way before us.
3. In the darkness of death God will be a light unto us. When we enter the damp thick shades of the tomb—when all earthly lights, even those that have burned with the steadiest and purest lustre, will be extinguished—then the Lord will be our light. He will guide our feet, we shall pass through the dark valley without danger, and enter the regions of eternal day.
“Then let me not despairing mourn,
Though gloomy darkness spread the sky;
My glorious Sun will yet return,
And night with all its horrors fly” [Adapted].
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Micah 7:8. When I fall, I shall rise. A strange event and a strong hope. Trials (a) must be expected, (b) are temporary, (c) have their results, and (d) must be endured in hope. These words contain sweet comfort for slandered saints.
1. Sin is the cause of Divine indignation. Men make themselves rods by their own guilt. “Because I have sinned against him.”
2. This Divine indignation must be received as fatherly chastisement. If we murmur and get impatient, the end has not been yet answered. “Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?”
3. Such as bear Divine indignation in the right spirit will be delivered. Bear it patiently, hopefully. The time is short, “until he plead.” His promise is good. “He will bring me forth.”
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 7
“Lean not on earth; twill pierce thee to the heart:
A broken reed at best, but oft a spear:
On its sharp point peace bleeds, and hope expires.” [Young.]
Micah 7:7-9. A holy silence unstrings every affliction, it takes off the weight of every burden, it adds sweet to every bitter, it changes dark nights into sunshiny days. The smallest sufferings will easily vanquish an unquiet spirit, but a quiet spirit will as easily triumph over the greatest sufferings [Brooks]. Micah 7:9. Indignation. Though of all burdens the indignation of the Lord be the greatest burden, yet Divine indignation is but a light burden in comparison of sin. A gracious soul can better stand under the burden of God’s indignation for sin, than it can stand under the burden of sin itself, which hath kindled that indignation [Ibid.].