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Micah Chapter 7 - A Prophet's Prayer

Our most important work is to pray for the people of God.

作者：

Tumbling loaf of bread

2025年3月05日

3 分钟阅读

Looking to the LORD
Repenting for our sins
Conclusion

When we serve in the church, there may be times we see the weaknesses of the leaders, workers, or members of the church. Though we have faith that God continues to guide the church towards perfection (Isaiah 62:1-3, Ephesians 5:26-27, Revelation 19:6-8), the church currently is far from perfect.

A key lesson we must learn is how to come to terms with the imperfections we currently see so that we do not lose our zeal, become discouraged, or even lose our faith.

From the beginning of Micah, we see the prophet's love towards his people (Micah 1:8-9). How heartbroken and pained he must be to see his people being so corrupt and sinning against the Almighty God!

After many chapters of warnings, promises, and exhortations from the prophet, the book of Micah, quite touchingly, concludes with the prophet's prayer to God.

The message is clear - ultimately, the most important thing we can do is pray for the people of God.

What, then, should the contents of our prayer be?

Looking to the LORD

Amidst a sinful nation, barren of righteous men (Micah 7:1-4), surrounded by people whom he could not trust (Micah 7:5-6), all Micah could do was look to the LORD and wait on Him (Micah 7:7).

What exactly does looking to God entail?

Despite the adverse situation that he was in, Micah recalled how God in times past led and fed His people, and prayed for God to shepherd them once again (Micah 7:14-15).

Micah also considered the nature of God, how God is a God who does not remain angry forever but is full of mercy and pardons iniquity (Micah 7:18-20).

This also reminds us of another prophet, Habakkuk, whose book ends with a prayer of entrusting to God and waiting on His goodness (Habakkuk 3:17-19).

When we see things in church that we do not understand, things that might feel wrong to us, let us learn to look to the Lord and entrust everything to Him. This is God's church and He reigns in His church (Micah 4:1-3, 7; 5:4).

God is the master, and we are but unprofitable servants. May our eyes look upon Him, until He has mercy on us all (Psalm 123:1-4).

Repenting for our sins

When we truly look to the Lord amidst our troubles, naturally this brings about repentance. Truly coming before God and considering who our God is should lead us to see our unworthiness and faults before God.

Rather than solely focusing on all the wrongs and injustices happening around us, we should instead introspect and see that we are flawed, too. We are perhaps not much better than the others whom we think are in the wrong.

It is scarily easy to be filled with self-righteousness and be wise in our own sight when we see wrong around us.

However, in Micah 7:8-9, Micah acknowledges that he himself has sinned against God too.

Crucially, however, he also has faith in God's forgiveness, that God will be His light in darkness, that God will bring him forth to the light, and that he will behold God's righteousness.

In fact, the conclusion of the book of Micah prophesies of the New Testament, where through the death of Jesus on the cross, the ultimate portrayal of the love of God, mankind can receive the forgiveness of sins.

And this forgiveness of sin comes from water baptism in living water (Acts 2:38; 22:16). When we are baptised, our sins are all cast into the depths of the sea (Micah 7:19). By the blood of Jesus, we have received the forgiveness of sins, and we continue to be cleansed whenever we repent before God.

Conclusion

It is easy to complain, be frustrated, and be discouraged by what we see around us.

May we instead bring everything to God in prayer, looking to the mercy and faithfulness of God. Rather than constantly pointing fingers at others, may we not forget to continuously introspect and humbly repent before our God.

Micah Chapter 2 - Itching Ears

Are our eyes inclined towards the word of God? Or itching to satisfy our desires?

Daniel Chapter 4 - Let the Most High God Reign in Your Life

The story in Daniel Chapter 4 is perhaps not unfamiliar to many of us. King Nebuchadnezzar, ruler of the great Babylonian empire, the king of kings, being turned into a beast, how spectacular is that? It's not until we read through this chapter for ourselves that we realise something even more spectacular: this whole chapter is told by King Nebuchadnezzar himself. Daniel Chapter 4 is King Nebuchadnezzar's own personal testimony! Isn't King Nebuchadnezzar the infamous evil king? How is it that in this chapter he gives praise to the almighty God? 1) Most High Rules Over the Kingdom of Man Perhaps the first thing that should catch our attention from today's chapter is the repeated phrase in verses 17 and 32. The Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He wills. This phrase can even be said to be the theme of the whole Book of Daniel. This book is mostly set in the time of exile, when there seemingly was no longer any king over the people of God. Yet, in the Book of Daniel we see that though there was no earthly king ruling over Israel, God made it clear to these foreign kings that He is the almighty God. He was still the one who was truly the King. The outcome of this is that the evil king Nebuchadnezzar, probably the greatest and most powerful man during his time, writes this testimony for all peoples, nations, and languages to hear (Daniel 4:1-3). Imagine being a subject in the Babylonian empire, and receiving this declaration from king Nebuchadnezzar praising and glorifying the God of Israel. Though God's people sin against Him and are punished by being taken into exile, the name of God is still magnified. God is not put to shame. Today through baptism we have entered into the Kingdom of God. Yet, it is key for us to consider whether God truly is the King of our lives. It's natural to make many plans for our future, out of a desire to lead our dream lives. But for us Christians, the sovereignty and authority of God is something that we must be well-aware of and fully willing to submit to. If God doesn't let me get that job, are we able to accept it? If God closes the path towards our dreams, are we will to say "Let Thy will be done"? If God takes away all that we have, are we able to be like Job and say "Blessed be the name of the Lord"? If all this is causing us to struggle, remember this: God loves us. He knows what's best for us, He knows what we need. He has already given His life for us, and given us His precious Spirit to dwell within us. Having faith in God's love towards us gives us strength to submit to our King with full assurance that this is the best path for us, this is the way to blessing and to eternal life. 2) Praising God Since our God is the highest and rules over the kingdom of man, what then should our response ought to be? Nebuchadnezzar begins and ends his testimony by praising and glorifying God. Giving praises to God is something that we have been often taught but perhaps we have not given enough thought to or taken seriously enough. Yet, throughout the Bible, it's clear that praises are a key part of our worship to God (just read the Book of Psalms). What might we praise God for? Like Nebuchadnezzar, we can praise God for His greatness and His almightiness. Just consider the stars, or the intricacies of the human body. We can praise God for His love and wisdom as seen in His creation as well as in His word. The more we study into the holy scriptures, the more we are filled with awe at how complete, connected, and wonderful these life-giving words are. We can also glorify God for His salvation which He has so freely given to us. Imagine how different our lives might be today if not for His grace and mercy! It's when we decide to finally take the importance of praising God seriously and intentionally set aside some time in our daily prayers to praise God, that we truly experience the blessing that comes along with it. We go through life being filled with joy and gratitude, knowing that we have such a great and powerful Heavenly Father who loves us. In fact, it was when Nebuchadnezzar took the glory for Himself rather than giving all glory to God, that the infamous transformation into a beast took place. 3) Pride This brings us nicely to the final point of reflection for this devotional. Pride - when we take glory for ourselves rather than giving glory to God. Nebuchadnezzar's testimony serves as a stark warning for us. Even just a sentence or thought of pride can greatly displease God. How often have we unknowingly taken credit for ourselves for any achievements we have, or for any divine work that we do? Being puffed up with pride and not keeping to one's proper domain is precisely the sin of satan (1 Tim 3:6, Jude 6-7). If we are filled with pride, what difference is there between us and satan? In fact, while satan exalted himself, God on the contrary lowered Himself, coming in the likeness of man and humbling Himself even to the point of death (Phil 2:5-8). Whose example do we want to follow, that of God or of satan? Let us take warning from the story of Nebuchadnezzar and carefully consider who's example we want to follow. Indeed, God opposes the proud while giving grace to the humble. He blesses the meek, that they might inherit the earth.

Whom Are You Serving?

Let us examine ourselves whether we are in the faith and servitude.

Jonah Chapter 3 - The Generous Mercy of God

“For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Tim 2:3-4). Jonah Chapter 3 records a classic example of this exact sentiment. It records the story of prophet Jonah preaching to the people of Nineveh, and the repentance of Nineveh. Looking at Ourselves When looking at the story of Nineveh’s repentance, there is a sense of comfort that we can find for ourselves. Just as God forgave the people of Nineveh when they were sincerely repentant, we also have confidence that God has the mercy to forgive us for our sins today if we repent with a sincere heart. We however should not grow complacent just because we think God will be merciful with us. Within this chapter, we see the lengths that the people went to in order to seek forgiveness from God. First, verse 6 records that the king himself mourned in sackcloth and sat in ashes. Verse 7 to 9 then record the decree made by the king, mandating fasting and mourning for all his people, driving them all to repentance before God. Take a moment to reflect on this, is this the state we want to reach before we finally turn to God? Although the people of Nineveh were ultimately spared, let us not be deceived, it was a sorry state that they were in. Furthermore, the Bible tells us in Hebrews 10:26 that “if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins”. God’s love abounds and His mercy is plentiful, but let us be careful never to take advantage of this love and mercy. Looking at Others Jonah’s story also teaches us about how we should treat others who we ourselves may deem as sinful. The narrative of the Book of Jonah centers around Jonah refusing to preach to Nineveh due to his hatred for the city and his skepticism that its people would change. When we read the story of Jonah, we are quick to say that Jonah’s attitude was not right. However, when we look at our peers around us, do we also unknowingly adopt Jonah’s mindset? Are we quick to judge people? To fit them into certain labels and refrain from helping them in their faith? Something we must remember is that God desires all men to be saved. Every soul is precious in the sight of God. If this is the case, as servants of God, we must fulfill his will and try to save every soul regardless of our perception of them. All in all, we have received this gift of love and mercy from God. We ought to share this wonderful gift with others.