Micah 2:12-13
‘I will surely gather all of you, Jacob;
I will surely bring together the remnant of Israel.
I will bring them together like sheep in a sheepfold,
like a flock in its pasture;
the place will throng with people.
13 The One who breaks open the way will go up before them;
they will break through the gate and go out.
Their King will pass through before them,
the Lord at their head.’
As I write this, we’re having an unseasonably hot week for October. Just when I’d expect to be hunkering down for the dark mornings and evenings, expecting autumnal storms and a drop in temperature, I’ve found myself blinking in the bright sun of a 24 degree afternoon, and wondering why I got my winter jumpers out when what I need instead are shorts and sunglasses!
These verses at the end of Micah chapter 2 feel equally disorientating. We’ve become accustomed to the dark skies of looming judgement and then suddenly a dazzling shaft of hope appears. Up till this point, the message has been about scattering, ruin and destruction. Now God speaks about gathering, safety and preservation. The language of sheep and shepherd is a beautiful metaphor for the rest we were thinking about yesterday - the remnant will once again be with their Lord, in a place of blessing and security. Wow! What an amazing turnaround. Yet it feels a bit abrupt. Back in v11 we heard that what these people deserve is the sort of false prophet who offers them the empty so-called rest of a drunken stupor. And yet in the very next verse, God himself offers them the rich, deep blessings of having him - their Lord and King - living with them to lead them.
But that’s how grace operates, isn’t it? It is, by its very nature, unexpected and out of place. These verses - wonderful as they are - feel like they don’t quite fit here, because they’re so obviously NOT what the people deserve. We’re only just beginning to appreciate the severity of the people’s rebellion - and there’s plenty more chapters to come which will make it even clearer! They certainly aren’t showing any signs of repentance. We’re not even told if they’ve acted on the warnings so far, by mourning their sin and asking for mercy. This first note of hope doesn’t come because the people change their ways. It comes because God makes a promise. The initiative is all on his part. 3 times in 2 verses he says “I will ….” Not “You must …” or “When you have ….”
The grace God offers us is equally unexpected. Romans 5 tells us that “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Before we cleaned up our act. Before we even realised we needed to. In fact, before we were even born, a dazzling shaft of hope broke into the darkness of a world under God’s judgement. Let’s thank God for that today.
