God Never Gives Up on You

Micah 6:9-16 
9The voice of the Lord cries to the city— and it is sound wisdom to fear your name: “Hear of the rod and of him who appointed it!
10Can I forget any longer the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is accursed?
11Shall I acquit the man with wicked scales and with a bag of deceitful weights?
12Your rich men are full of violence; your inhabitants speak lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.
13Therefore I strike you with a grievous blow, making you desolate because of your sins.
14You shall eat, but not be satisfied, and there shall be hunger within you; you shall put away, but not preserve, and what you preserve I will give to the sword.
15You shall sow, but not reap; you shall tread olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil; you shall tread grapes, but not drink wine.
16For you have kept the statutes of Omri, and all the works of the house of Ahab; and you have walked in their counsels, that I may make you a desolation, and your inhabitants a hissing; so you shall bear the scorn of my people.”

These are harsh words to take in for any of us. They are full of judgement and wrath. God sees all of man’s sins in the full light of day and while we may want to look away, He does not. And if we’re honest, we would prefer it if He would just skip over our sinfulness.

God is very specific about what displeases Him. After the stunning words of Micah 6:6-8 where we hear that God loves justice, kindness, and humility, He now gives specific examples of how those characteristics were missing from the lives (especially among the leadership) of His people. I find the use of “wicked scales” to be particularly telling. Dishonest scales are used by rich merchants and leaders to defraud and abuse the common people. Where is the justice? The “rich men are full of violence … and speak lies”. Where is the kindness? And Omri and Ahab – famous for their idolatry. Where is a humble walk with God? God calls out all of these sins and declares judgement upon them. God will make them a desolation and they will earn the scorn of His people.

In the center of these harsh words what I hear is God’s grace for His people. He doesn’t want any of this for them and will mete out vengeance upon those who disobey Him this way. The roll of leader is an important one and leaders will stand before God to answer for their choices. Where they have failed to lead with justice, kindness, and humble service to God, there will be retribution.

With that said, we are also a people who live on this side of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We will not suffer His retribution if we are washed in the blood. Our sins are forgiven. Each of us can think of times when we have failed to live as He calls, and His mercy trumps His wrath because of Jesus death. So we stand before God and He will know who does not know Him or His forgiveness and who does. That is not up to us – thank the Lord. Those who call out to Him in faith walk in His light and that has to be the end of it.

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