Micah 4:6-8
6 ‘In that day,’ declares the Lord,
‘I will gather the lame;
I will assemble the exiles
and those I have brought to grief.
7 I will make the lame my remnant,
those driven away a strong nation.
The Lord will rule over them in Mount Zion
from that day and for ever.
8 As for you, watchtower of the flock,
stronghold of Daughter Zion,
the former dominion will be restored to you;
kingship will come to Daughter Jerusalem.’
I wonder what you think your biggest need is right now? If you were looking ahead to a better future, what would it have in it that you don’t have in the present? We might have all kinds of answers to that question. But I’m pretty sure most of us wouldn’t have answered that question by saying ‘a King’!
In today’s verses, God continues to paint a picture of the future that lies ahead for his people, after his judgement has passed and they have returned to worshipping him as they ought to. They will have gone through grief and suffering , scattering and weakness, but God promises to bring them back together and make them strong again. But remember what we have seen so far in Micah - one of their current problems is a failure of leadership and another is the coming invasion by Assyria. It’s not going to help much if God brings the nation back from exile only to have them led astray again by a new generation of leaders who behave just like the ones they have now. And so God promises them a new King. Instead of being at the mercy of selfish leaders from among their own people, or under the oppression of a foreign government, they will live under the everlasting rule of the Lord himself.
Isn’t that what we need too? It might not be at the forefront of our minds, but when we stop and think about it, we know that everything in life goes better when we can be confident that the person in charge is powerful, wise and good. Weak, selfish, ineffective leaders bring misery and anxiety. But the rule of a good leader brings security and prosperity. So let’s praise God today that we get to be citizens for ever in the kingdom of the only perfect King.
