Micah: "Who Is a God Like You?" | Micah
Brian Hedges | June 29, 2025
I want to invite you to turn in your Bibles this morning to the Old Testament prophet, the book of Micah. It’s on page 776 if you’re following along in the Bible in the chair in front of you. The book of Micah follows Jonah.
We are studying through the minor prophets together. We’re not taking them in order as they are in Scriptures, but rather in chronological order, and Micah is the third in this series, the last of the eighth-century prophets. He prophesied a generation after Hosea and Amos and was a younger contemporary of Isaiah.
While you’re turning there, let me tell you a story about the Scottish pastor Alexander Whyte, a nineteenth-century Scottish pastor. He one day had business to do with his attorney, who was also a member of their church. He went to this man’s office—John Carmont was his name—and he did his legal business. At the end of the meeting, the elderly John Carmont looked his pastor in the eye and said, “Have you any word for an old sinner?”
It took Alexander Whyte off guard. He wasn’t prepared for a pastoral visit, but here was this man that he considered a saint, a stalwart in the church, who asked, “Do you have a word for an old sinner?”
Alexander Whyte thought for a minute, and this is what came to mind. This is what he said to him. He said, “He delighteth in mercy.” It was a quotation from Micah 7:18, from the King James version. “He delighteth in mercy.”
A couple of days later, Alexander Whyte received a letter from John Carmont, who told him that he had been in a period of great darkness in his spiritual life and that that word had given him hope. It was light that had pierced into the darkness, assured him again of God’s grace and of God’s mercy in his life. And a few days later, he died, and in that confidence passed into eternity.
God is a God who delights in mercy. That is the message with which the book of Micah ends. You see it in Micah 7:18-20. Let me read it to you.
“Who is a God like you,
who pardons sin and forgives the transgression
of the remnant of his inheritance?
You do not stay angry forever
but delight to show mercy.
You will again have compassion on us;
you will tread our sins underfoot
and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.
You will be faithful to Jacob,
and show love to Abraham,
as you pledged on oath to our ancestors
in days long ago.”
“He delights to show mercy.” Maybe not what you would expect from a minor prophet, especially where we’ve been so far in this series. When we think about the minor prophets, we think they usually sing in a minor key, and that would actually be true. There’s a lot of judgment, there’s a lot of doom, there’s a lot of gloom in the minor prophets. We saw that especially last week in Amos. But Micah’s book, while it has plenty of judgment, is also a more hopeful book than Amos.
I think that’s partly because of his context. Micah was speaking to Judah, the southern kingdom, and he was speaking and prophesying partly during the reign of the good king Hezekiah. Unlike Amos, who was speaking to the northern kingdom with its wicked kings, the northern kingdom soon to go into Assyrian exile, Micah is addressing the South. In fact, his ministry was so effective that it is recalled about a century later in Jeremiah 26, because Hezekiah listened to Micah’s words, sought the Lord, and the Lord then delivered Jerusalem from destruction when the armies of Sennacherib surrounded Jerusalem in 701 B.C. So there’s a lot of hope in the book of Micah, even while there are also those darker notes of judgment.
Micah’s name actually means “who is like God,” and that name is reflected in the question that we’ve already seen in Micah 7:18: “Who is a God like you?” That question, I think, is a good window into this book, as we think about the character of God as reflected in the book of Micah, and we see three things. We see:
1. The God of Justice
2. The God of Promise
3. The God Who Delights to Show Mercy
I want us to look at each one of those together this morning.
1. The God of Justice
First of all, he is the God of justice. As I said, there is a lot of judgment in this book, and it’s judgment on both Israel, the northern kingdom, and Judah, the southern kingdom, because of their rebellion, their sin, and their sins of injustice.
You see this especially in Micah 1, and you see it as Micah focuses his ministry on both the northern and southern kingdoms and on these two cities, the capitals of the two kingdoms, Samaria to the north and Jerusalem to the south. So you might call this opening section of the book “A Tale of Two Cities.” Let’s read it, Micah 1:1-8.
“The word of the Lord that came to Micah of Moresheth during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah—the vision he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.
“Hear, you peoples, all of you,
listen, earth and all who live in it,
that the Sovereign Lord may bear witness against you,
the Lord from his holy temple.”
So you can see, here’s the judgment coming. God has a case against Israel and Judah.
“Look! The Lord is coming from his dwelling place;
he comes down and treads on the heights of the earth.”
This is the language of theophany, as God comes down in judgment. Verse 4:
“The mountains melt beneath him
and the valleys split apart,
like wax before the fire,
like water rushing down a slope.
All this is because of Jacob’s transgression,
because of the sins of the people of Israel.”
Notice as he zooms in on the two cities, Samaria and Jerusalem, the respective capitals of Israel and Judah.
“What is Jacob’s transgression?
Is it not Samaria?
What is Judah’s high place?
Is it not Jerusalem?
“‘Therefore [here’s the judgment that’s going to come] I will make Samaria a heap of rubble,
a place for planting vineyards.
I will pour her stones into the valley
and lay bare her foundations.
All her idols will be broken to pieces;
all her temple gifts will be burned with fire;
I will destroy all her images.
Since she gathered her gifts from the wages of prostitutes,
as the wages of prostitutes they will again be used.’
“Because of this I will weep and wail;
I will go about barefoot and naked.
I will howl like a jackal
and moan like an owl.”
This is the judgment that’s coming on Samaria, and it’s the language of exile. This will be fulfilled within just years of Micah’s prophecy, as Assyria invades, Samaria falls, and the Israelites are carried off into a Assyrian exile. But what about Judah? What about Jerusalem?
Well, look at verse 9. He says,
“For Samaria’s plague is incurable;
it has spread to Judah.
It has reached the very gate of my people,
even to Jerusalem itself.”
What Micah is doing right there is comparing Samaria’s sin to a deadly virus that has spread to Jerusalem.
Did any of you ever read that book The Hot Zone, written by Richard Preston? I think this was in the ’90s, about the Ebola virus. I read part of that book; it scared me to death. The Ebola virus—I mean, that is a nasty thing. You don’t want anything to do with the Ebola virus.
What Micah is saying is that the sin of Samaria is like that. It is so dangerous, it is so toxic, it is so infectious that it has infected Jerusalem. So Jerusalem and Judah are also implicated in this accusation and will be subject to the judgment of God.
This is especially true as Micah focuses on the leadership of the people. And you see this in Micah 3:1-3.
“Then I said, ‘Listen, you leaders of Jacob, you rulers of Israel.’” When he says listen, that’s kind of a mark in this book. So there are three sections in the book. Each one of them begins with this call to listen or to hear. You had it in Micah 1; you have it again here in chapter 3, and then again in chapter 6.
“Listen, you leaders of Jacob,
you rulers of Israel.
Should you not embrace justice,
you who hate good and love evil;
who tear the skin from my people
and the flesh from their bones;
who eat my people’s flesh,
strip off their skin
and break their bones in pieces;
who chop them up like meat for the pan,
like flesh for the pot?”
This is shocking language. He is comparing the leaders to cannibals who are feasting on the people of God because they are exploiting the poor, because they are neglecting the needy, because they are building their empires on the backs of God’s people.
Then he speaks specifically to these different groups: prophets in Micah 3:5-6, the seers in verse 7, the rulers in verses 9-10. We don’t need to read all of that, but look at the summary in Micah 3:11-12. He says,
“Her leaders judge for a bribe,
her priests teach for a price,
and her prophets tell fortunes for money.
Yet they look for the Lord’s support and say,
‘Is not the Lord among us?
No disaster will come upon us.’”
You see, they’re presuming on God’s good favor in spite of their sin. Verse 12 says,
“Therefore because of you,
Zion will be plowed like a field,
Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble…”
So Jerusalem, just like Samaria, is going to face judgment.
“...the temple hill a mound overgrown with thickets.”
We could kind of summarize Micah in this way and capture some of the nuance. Micah’s language is full of puns and wordplays, and we could say something like this: the prophets are all for profit. The seers only see their own interests. The judges don’t do justice. The shepherds fleece their flocks. The rulers have led the people right into ruin. That’s the message of Micah to the leaders.
They’re like the politicians in the police force in Gotham City. In every Batman movie—and this is true in the Batman comics as well—Batman is in a city that is corrupt to the core. Their cops are crooked, the judges have been bought by the drug lords, crime is running rampant. There’s no one to protect the innocent people in streets, and that’s why Batman comes on the scene as this dark knight who’s seeking to do justice. He’s a vigilante for justice.
Well, Israel was like this. Samaria was like this. Judah was like this. All of the people who were in charge were actually complicit in the crime and in the injustice.
One more verse on this, Micah 6:16, following God’s lawsuit against his people. Verse 16 says,
“You have observed the statutes of Omri
and all the practices of Ahab’s house.”
Omri and Ahab were two of the most wicked kings of Israel—Ahab, the worst of all. This had been years before, but now God is saying, “You are just like Ahab. You have followed their traditions.”
“Therefore I will give you over to ruin
and your people to derision;
you will bear the scorn of the nations.”
Now, do you remember the story of King Ahab? I mean, this is one of the famous stories. King Ahab was a greedy man. He was a covetous man, and he had this guy in the city named Naboth who had a vineyard, and he wanted that vineyard. But Naboth has not put it on Zillow; it’s not listed for sale. Right? There’s no way you can get this vineyard. So Ahab is complaining to Jezebel, his wicked wife, the queen of Israel, and she says, “Hey, you’re the king! There’s no problem. I’ll get the vineyard for you.”
So she knocks Naboth off and she presents the title deed to Ahab. “Look, the vineyard is yours.” And Ahab is growing rich by exploiting and even killing the people of Israel, and God through Micah is saying, “This is what you’re like. You leaders of Israel and Judah, you’re just like this. You’re following in the footsteps of Ahab.”
Well, in contrast to that, we get a picture of the kind of justice that God requires, also in chapter six. This may be the most famous verse in Micah, Micah 6:8.
“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.”
Fuhr and Yates in their helpful book on the minor prophets define just what that means in a helpful way. They say,
“To act justly required teaching, treating others with fairness in accordance with the Mosaic law, and carried an obligation to provide for the poor. Loving faithfulness [or kindness or mercy; the Hebrew word is hesed] meant a lifestyle of covenantal loyalty and relational commitment towards God and others. One could not love God without also loving one’s neighbor. Walking humbly would guarantee that Israel did not presume upon God’s grace.”
That’s what God required. And God required it of Israel, but it’s not just of Israel. God requires this of all people. “He has shown you, oh man, oh mortal, oh human being, what is required of you.” God requires this of all of us.
This is applicable to all of us, especially as followers of Jesus Christ, but especially as leaders. And because Micah addresses the leaders, I want us to think about those of us in this room who are in positions of leadership or influence. This would be anything from a parent who has authority in your home to a boss at the workplace, a manager, a leader, an officer in the church. How do we use our authority? How do we use that influence? Do we use it for personal privilege? Do we use it for power trips, to exert control over others, or are we just and kind and humble? Do we act justly? Do we love kindness? Do we walk humbly with our God?
You might think of it like this: whatever your job description at work is, write Micah 6:8 into your job description, because this is what the Lord requires of you. He requires you, as a boss or as a teacher or as a corporate executive or an office manager or shift supervisor or an elder or a pastor in the church, he requires you to act with justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God.
The people of Israel were not doing it, the leaders were not doing it. The consequence of their injustice would be exile. Israel will be exiled to Assyria, and in just several generations, Judah will be exiled to Babylon. This is also in view in Micah. You see it in Micah 4:10. He says,
“Writhe in agony, Daughter Zion,
like a woman in labor,
for now you must leave the city
to camp in the open field.
You will go to Babylon.”
So exile is coming. But notice that with that word of judgment, there is also a word of hope. He says,
“You will go to Babylon;
there you will be rescued.
There the Lord will redeem you
out of the hand of your enemies.”
2. The God of Promise
That leads us into the second thing we see about God in this book, that God is not only the God of justice and of judgment, but he’s also the God of promise. He’s the God of promise.
The book of Micah is really laid out in three sections. Each one of those sections begins with judgment and ends with hope. It begins by calling Israel and Judah to account for their sins but ends with grace and with promise. Let me show you what some of these promises are.
(1) First of all, there is the promise of a remnant. This is at the end of the first section, Micah 2:12-13.
“I will surely gather all of you, Jacob;
I will surely bring together the remnant of Israel.”
Notice the certainty here: he says, “I will surely do this.”
“I will bring them together like sheep in a pen,
like a flock in its pasture;
the place will throng with people.
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.”
Five times in this book, Micah calls attention to the remnant of God’s people. In other words, God is going to preserve for himself a people. Even though Israel goes into exile, even though Judah eventually goes into exile, there will be a faithful few that God will preserve. He will see to it that his promises are fulfilled, and he will keep this remnant faithful to himself.
This is important language in Scripture, and if you want to see the New Testament application of it, read Paul’s words in Romans 11, where he talks about the remnant according to grace.
The lesson for us is simply this, that in our day, no matter how bleak things seem to be for the church in the twenty-first century, no matter how much it seems like injustice reigns in a world that has gone mad, no matter how much of a minority we may feel that we are as the church of God, we need to remember the promise of Christ. “I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.” God still has a remnant. He still preserves for himself a people. This is part of the promise of God. He never leaves himself without a witness.
(2) There’s a promise of a remnant, then there’s the promise of peace. Look at Micah 4:1.
“In the last days
the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established
as the highest of the mountains;
it will be exalted above the hills,
and peoples will stream to it.
Many nations will come and say,
“‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the temple of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us his ways,
so that we may walk in his paths.’”
You get the sense, when you read that, that this is this grand vision of something yet in the future when the nations flock to hear about the God of Jacob. This is not just for Israel. This is a multi-ethnic, multinational, global kingdom. It says,
“The law will go out from Zion,
the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He will judge between many peoples
and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide.
They will beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
nor will they train for war anymore.
Everyone will sit under their own vine
and under their own fig tree,
and no one will make them afraid,
for the Lord Almighty has spoken.”
You read passages like that, and regardless of how you think some of these Old Testament prophecies apply to the nation of Israel, you read passages like that and you know that there’s something that is yet to be fulfilled in God’s kingdom, when there comes a day where the peace that pervades this world is so great that the spears are turned into pruning hooks, the swords into plowshares. No more nuclear bombs, no more missiles, no more F-16s, no more war, no more machinery for war. It’s all peace. It’s all peace!
That hasn’t happened yet. That will not happen until a king comes who can bring that kind of peace, that kind of righteousness to the world.
(3) That’s the third thing that’s promised in this book, the promise of a king and of his kingdom. You see this in chapters 4 and 5. Let me read Micah 5:2, also a well-known verse from the book of Micah. It says,
“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though you are small among the clans of Judah,
out of you will come for me
one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,
from ancient times.”
Of course, we know that verse because it’s quoted in Matthew 2, showing us that Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah was the baby born in Bethlehem, the heir to David’s throne.
This reference here, “one whose origins are from of old, from ancient times,” in the historical context, that probably is a reference back to the Davidic covenant and to God’s promise to David that one of his own sons will sit on the throne. But in Christian theology, more has been seen in that verse, because this one who is the son of David is also the Son of God. He is one with the Ancient of Days.
You might remember those wonderful words from C.S. Lewis in one of the Narnian tales, when he said, “In our world, too, a stable once had something inside that was bigger than our whole world.”
And here’s this one who will come, this one who will be the king. And notice what he will do, as this passage continues in verse 4. Just notice the verbs. This Davidic king will
“stand and shepherd his flock
in the strength of the Lord,
in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they will live securely, for then his greatness
will reach to the ends of the earth.
“And he will be our peace
when the Assyrians invade our land
and march through our fortresses.
We will raise against them seven shepherds,
even eight commanders,
who will rule the land of Assyria with the sword,
the land of Nimrod with drawn sword.
He will deliver us from the Assyrians
when they invade our land
and march across our borders.”
It’s interesting language, and I think what you see there is something very common in the prophets; you see the fusing of two horizons. There is the immediate horizon, as Micah looks past the Assyrian exile to a time of regathering, a time of return; but he’s looking beyond that as well to this time when the messianic king will come and bring justice and peace to the world.
3. The God Who Delights to Show Mercy
God is a God of justice, he is a God of promise, and then thirdly and finally, he is the God who delights to show mercy. I want to end by just focusing on the final chapter of this book, Micah 7. The chapter begins with lament; it ends with hope. I just want to focus on two sections and show you three things in these two sections about the God who delights to show mercy.
(1) First of all, Micah 7:7-9, where we see light in the darkness.
“But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord,
I wait for God my Savior;
my God will hear me.”
I think Micah here is speaking for the remnant, knowing that exile is coming, lamenting the plight of the people of God; and yet, in the midst of all of that, through all of that, through all of the judgment that is going to come, he’s holding onto hope. He’s hoping in the Lord. Notice what he says in verse 8.
“Do not gloat over me, my enemy!
Though I have fallen, I will rise.
Though I sit in darkness,
the Lord will be my light.
Because I have sinned against him,
I will bear the Lord’s wrath,
until he pleads my case
and upholds my cause.
He will bring me out into the light;
I will see his righteousness.”
I never really noticed that verse until hearing and reading some things that John Piper wrote about this years ago. He calls this passage a case of “gutsy guilt.” It’s in some of his online articles but also in this book, When I Don’t Desire God, and he distinguishes this from both despairing guilt and also from cheap grace that just trivializes sin.
There are some people that essentially don’t take the warnings of Scripture seriously at all. They don’t take sin seriously at all. They just presume on God’s grace. “God is a God who forgives, I’m a person who sins; God is going to forgive my sins. Not going to worry about that.” That’s not what we have in Scripture.
What Piper is talking about is something different than that. Not cheap grace, not trivializing sin, but rather a recognition of the Lord’s wrath, the indignation of the Lord, that God is angry with sin and that he disciplines his people. But it’s not despair, because this is a kind of guilt that is gutsy. What Piper means by that is it is a kind of guilt that endures the darkness with confidence that the Lord will be our light.
You see this turn that happens in verse 9, where the judge will become the divine advocate. He says,
“Because I have sinned against him,
I will bear the Lord’s wrath,
until he pleads my case
and upholds my cause.
He will bring me out into the light;
I will see his righteousness.”
The judge becomes the advocate. He pleads our case.
One of the places where Piper talked about this gutsy guilt was a message he delivered in 2007 to something like 15,000-20,000 students at a Passion conference. The thrust of this message—in fact, the title of the message if you look it up online—was “How to Deal with the Guilt of Sexual Failure for the Glory of Christ and His Global Cause.”
The whole point of that message was that Piper was addressing all these young people, and he knew they were struggling with sin, he knew they were struggling with sexual sin, and he did not want them in their guilt to so despair that they gave up on their dreams of doing something for Jesus Christ, their dreams of being a part of reaching the world, becoming a missionary, doing missions. So he exhorted them from this passage to overcome sexual sin with the great doctrine of justification by faith alone. Take it seriously, but take hope in the grace of God, the grace of Christ.
Friends, this will help you and me with our guilt as well. If you find yourself in some kind of deep brokenness in your life, there’s hope for you. Maybe you have endured the heartbreak of divorce, a failed, a broken marriage, and maybe you even know that it was your fault or at least partly your fault. You could take hope that God still has a purpose for you, he still has a plan for you.
Maybe you feel like you have been tarnished by years of sin, a mind that has been defiled, a heart that has been hardened, and you wonder if you can ever recover that feeling of loving Christ with a pure love? A passage like this tells you you can. There’s light in the darkness.
Maybe you’ve wasted years in addiction. The Scriptures assure us that God can restore the years that the locusts have eaten, quoting another one of the prophets. Don’t deny your sin, don’t trivialize your sin, but listen: don’t despair in your sin. There’s light in the darkness. The judge is also the advocate.
(2) There’s more in Micah 7:18. We’re returning to where we began. There is also pardon or forgiveness for the guilty. Look at this verse again, and just look at the verbs.
“Who is a God like you,
who pardons sin and forgives the transgression
of the remnant of his inheritance?
You do not stay angry forever
but delight to show mercy.
You will again have compassion on us.”
This has to be one of the most gospel-rich passages in all the Old Testament, really in all the Bible, pointing us to the depth of God’s love and mercy and grace and compassion. It really is an echo of Exodus 34, one of the most stunning revelations of God and his character anywhere in Scripture.
The scene was this: The children of Israel, having just received the Ten Commandments, the law of God, commit idolatry and they sin against God by building and worshiping a golden calf (Exodus 32). Moses is up on the mountain; he is pleading with God not to wipe out the people, and he prays that God would give him a sight, a glimpse of his glory. And God says, “Nobody can see my face and live, Moses, but here’s what I’ll do. I’ll put you in the cleft of the rock on this mountain, and I will pass before you, and you will see the reflection of my glory, the back parts of my glory.” So Moses is there on the mountain and the Lord passes by. This is the scene we have in Exodus 34. It’s one of the greatest revelations of God’s character anywhere in Scripture.
“Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the Lord. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, ‘The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.’”
This is the God who delights to show mercy. This is the God who is full of love, steadfast love, mercy, and grace.
We see the greatest demonstrations of this, of course, in the life of Jesus Christ. Here’s Jesus; he’s at a party. A Pharisee is throwing the party, and there’s this woman whose life has been broken through her sin. She’s the scandal of the town, and she’s there at his feet. She’s weeping. She’s washing his feet, she’s kissing his feet. Does Jesus condemn her? No. He says, “The one who is forgiven much also loves much.”
Here’s a man out in the wilderness; he’s demon crazed. He can’t be bound with chains, he can’t be controlled by anyone. And Jesus restores his sanity and sets him free.
Jesus tells the story of a prodigal who goes off into the far country. This is a son who’s out in exile. He wastes his life, he wastes his inheritance. Only in a moment of great desperation does he decide to come home and take the place of his household slave; but when he comes, the father is on the horizon, arms wide open, ready to throw a party because “my son who was dead is now alive; he was lost and now he is found.” This is the heart of God.
What kind of God is he? Who is a God like this? He is a God of steadfast love, a God who delights in mercy.
(3) But he not only delights in mercy; this is the God who triumphs over all of our enemies. One more verse, Micah 7:18-19.
“Who is a God like you,
who pardons sin and forgives the transgression
of the remnant of his inheritance?
You do not stay angry forever
but delight to show mercy.
You will again have compassion on us;
[now listen to this] you will tread our sins underfoot
and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.”
“You’re going to trample my sins underfoot, you’re going to throw them into the depths of the sea.” It’s recalling the Exodus story, Exodus 15-16, when the children of Israel are there on the bank of the Red Sea and God opens it wide. They pass through on dry land; Pharaoh and his armies come behind them and the sea closes in, and Pharaoh and his armies are drowned. The enemies are drowned in the depths of the sea.
What Micah is saying here is that this God is a God who not only pardons our sins, he also is the God who sets us free from our sin. “He breaks the power of canceled sin, / He sets the prisoner free.” This is a God in whom there is both forgiveness and freedom. He justifies and he sanctifies. He removes our guilt, he breaks our chains. He is the God who conquers our greatest enemies, the enemies of sin and death. He buries our sins in the oblivion of the sea’s darkest depths. And he did that supremely in the cross.
Listen to John Piper one more time.
“Here in the cross is where every enemy of joy is overcome—divine wrath as he, Christ, becomes a curse for us; real guilt as he becomes forgiveness for us; lawbreaking as he becomes righteousness for us; estrangement from God as he becomes reconciliation for us; slavery to Satan as he becomes redemption for us; bondage to sin as he becomes liberation for us; pangs of conscience as he becomes cleansing for us; death as he becomes resurrection for us; hell as he becomes eternal life for us.”
Who is a God like our God? What kind of God is he? He is the God of justice who cares for the needy, who upholds righteousness, who holds both nations and individuals accountable for injustice, and who requires us to act justly as well. He is the God of promise, who promises a faithful remnant that is preserved through the darkest of times, who promises a king who will come in both humility and power and who will bring peace and righteousness and justice to the world. And he is the God who delights to show mercy, mercy that is not just sufficient but is abundant, that is overflowing, that is strong enough not only to cover your sins but to conquer sin itself and bring you freedom and hope.
Are you hoping in that God today? Is this the God that you know? This is the God who has revealed himself in his word, through his Son and by his Spirit. If you are a Christian today, take hope in this. “He delighteth in mercy.” If you’re not a Christian today and there’s some stab of discontent or of conviction or of guilt or of longing in your heart, the peace you want in your heart, the justice you want in the world, the forgiveness you want for your conscience, it’s all found here. It’s all found in this God, the God that Micah tells us about.
Let’s pray together.
Lord, we thank you this morning for your word, and we thank you for this remarkable, almost too-good-to-be-true picture of who you are. We pray now that having heard it, you would give us hearts to believe it; that you would give us a deep conviction of its reality in our own hearts and lives; and that we would take hope in these truths, wherever we are. Some of us this morning are in darkness, and we need this ray of light. Some feel bound up in the guilt of their sins, trapped in bondage to sin, and Lord, we need this forgiveness, we need this freedom. Some, Lord, feel like maybe we’re living in an exile right now. We need the promise, Lord, of your renewing, restoring grace. So Lord, whatever the need is in each and every heart this morning, by your Spirit would you apply your word to each heart? Would you give us the faith to believe the promises of your word and help us to set our minds and our hearts on Jesus Christ?
As we come to the Lord’s table this morning, may the table be for us a means of grace by which we enjoy fellowship with Christ through the Spirit, by which our hearts are assured once again of your grace, your mercy, your forgiveness, and by which we are strengthened for the mission you’ve called us to in the world. So, Lord, draw near to us in these moments as we seek Your face. We pray this in Jesus’ name, for His sake, amen.
Brian G. Hedges
