Micah 7:20
20 You will be faithful to Jacob,
and show love to Abraham,
as you pledged on oath to our ancestors
in days long ago.
When we started this book, you might remember that I said that Micah’s name means ‘Who is like the Lord?’ and that this question is one of the main themes of the whole book. It is only explicitly asked once, in chapter 7 verse 18, which we looked at a few days ago. But it has been there all along, as we have circled through the themes of God’s righteous judgment of the people of Israel, and his promised rescue of them.
We have seen that God is holy - he cannot turn a blind eye to idolatry and wickedness, even when it is committed by his own, dearly-loved people. We have seen that God is sovereign - he can use even pagan nations as his instruments. We have seen that God is merciful - the judgment which Micah has been sent to warn of is not going to be the end of the story. And here we are reminded that he is faithful - he always keeps his promises. Throughout all the ups and downs of this book, indeed, throughout all the ups and downs of the whole history of God’s dealings with mankind, whether things seem to be going well or badly, God has always been consistently at work, keeping his promises. And so we can be confident that he will continue to be faithful and loving, whatever lies ahead.
Sometimes, even for those who God has loved and chosen, life is very, very hard. Sometimes that is the result of our own sin, or someone else’s. Sometimes it’s simply the consequence of living in a broken world in which nothing is quite as it was meant to be. But we, like Micah, can be completely sure that God will not abandon those who have put their trust in him. And we can join Micah in looking ahead to the day when we will finally live forever secure with our loving shepherd-king Jesus. So let’s finish our time in Micah by praising and thanking our loving, merciful, faithful Lord.
