Micah’s Testimony

Would you like for your faith to be challenged today? Okay, then try this passage of scripture on for size: “Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grapegleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat: my soul desired the firstripe fruit. The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net. That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, the prince asketh, and the judge asketh for a reward; and the great man, he uttereth his mischievous desire: so they wrap it up. The best of them is as a brier: the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge: the day of thy watchmen and thy visitation cometh; now shall be their perplexity. Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide: keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom. For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother in law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own house. Therefore I will look unto the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me. Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me” (Mic. 7:1-8). First let’s consider that the new testament writings tell us that the old testament writings and events are for US (Rom. 15:4; I Cor. 10:11). And before someone ignores that reality and says, “Well, I don’t think that was for us TODAY;” consider again that Jesus related this very passage of scripture from Micah to those who would be under the new covenant (Mat. 10:36).

There is no doubt my friend that these things are more than relevant to EVERYONE who has ever had true faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The real consideration to ponder is that if we are “in Christ” by means of his Spirit baptism, then we are going to be on one end of that stick or the other (I Cor. 12:13; II Cor. 5:17). I can tell you that if you cannot readily identify with the testimony of Micah here, then you had better hunker down and get seriously real with God. It’s easy to SAY we identify with a testimony like that, but there is also a reality of truly doing so. Actually the only reality of that is to be “led by the Spirit of God,” out of sin and into holiness, literally (Rom. 8:13,14). There simply is no such thing as being persecuted for the sake of Jesus, if we “cannot cease from sin” (I Pet. 4:1,2; II Pet. 2:14). Jesus did not live after sin, and the scripture says, “He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked” (I Jn. 2:6). That in fact is the ONLY way that one can be “persecuted for righteousness’ sake,” as the apostle Paul confirmed: “Yea, and all that will live GODLY in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (II Tim. 3:12). A lot of folks have some ridiculous ideas about the terms godliness and holiness, like dress and hair codes, and various other commandments of men. However their is only one defining of these things in the Bible, and that is to “walk in the Spirit, [and] not fulfil the lust of the flesh” (Gal. 5:16; I Jn. 3:3; Mat. 5:8; Col. 3:5-10,12-15; Eph. 5:3-7; etc.). If we fulfill that calling, then and only then will we begin to understand and identify with what the great prophet of God was actually saying in our text passage. Amen.