Micah 3:4
Then they will cry out to the Lord,
but he will not answer them.
At that time he will hide his face from them
because of the evil they have done.
Do you remember the graphic picture we had in chapter 1, of crumbling mountains and destroyed cities? If we found ourselves in the middle of a scene like that, the noise would be deafening. Here in chapter 3, by contrast, there is a moment of silence. It might not seem so scary, but I wonder if this silence is actually more terrifying than the ear-splitting crash of a city turning to rubble. The people cry out to the Lord, in desperate horror, and they hear …… NOTHING in reply.
What would it be like if God didn’t speak to us? I don’t mean a voice speaking audibly into our ears - that’s not something the Bible teaches us to expect. I don’t even mean that sense we sometimes get of a Bible passage really resonating with us, or revealing something to us, that makes us say ‘God really spoke to me through that sermon’ or ‘I was really aware of God speaking to me when I read the Bible today’. Those feelings can be wonderful when they come, but we’re not guaranteed them. No, I’m talking about something much more significant. What if the holy God, who cannot look on sin, chose to treat us as the sinners we really are, and turned his face away? What if he only answered those whose prayers were worthy of his attention? If that was how he treated us we could cry out to him for the rest of our days, and all we would hear back would be silence. It’s a chilling prospect.
There was a man who experienced that silence, so that we don’t have to. When Jesus cried out “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” from the cross, what was his father’s answer? Nothing. Just silence. And darkness in the middle of the day, because the light of God’s face was turned away. Jesus bore the horror of separation from his father, so that we never have to. If we are trusting in him, then we are assured that God looks on us with favour. Our cries are heard. Our prayers may not always be answered in ways that we can see, but God is never silent. Every moment of our lives, he is speaking words of hope and reassurance to those who are in Christ: ”You are mine. You are not alone. Your sin is forgiven at the cross. Your eternity is secure.” Let’s praise him for that today.
