"But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me." " Micah 7:7
The job of prophet can't be easy. As a Pastor, I understand a little, the role of speaking the truth in love and as noble as that sounds, try doing it all the time. Micah is not an easy book to read.
Though those verses about Bethlehem and a few other nuggets of hope, mercy and encouragement can be found for the digging, essentially Micah is warning God's people that judgment is coming, and to offer pardon to all who repent. If you follow Biblical History a bit, you will see that not many respond to Micah and there is not exactly a big revival that breaks out. Micah goes into great detail about how corrupt humans are and how duplicitous and conniving too. He even breaks out the 'hate' word to describe God's disgust with the sin of the people He loves so much.
Then in verse 7:7, Micah takes a huge reflective breath and speaks the desire of his own heart. Maybe from conviction, maybe from just needing to back off all the negative truth. 'But', he says, trying to describe himself as an exception to the rule, 'as for me', again setting himself apart, I want to be different. Sometimes as Pastor, I battle between feeling immense identification with the depravity of us sheep, and extreme isolation, feeling like I can't relate at all to some of the nonsense of our lives. Odd, this sense of being so human and seeing what God wants so clearly, at the same time. Micah watches in hope for God and waits for His Savior. As I identified with that feeling this morning a wave of tears came out of me in utter appreciation for personal grace, and I cried out to my Lord in some anguish for strength to do my job, and to be who I should be, and to serve Him so I can guide, and love us sheep. He has heard me again, and all is well. I am blessed and God is so good. I feel that power in my spirit and that sense of well-being in my soul. The Lord hears His sheep and their shepherds too. After all, He is The Great Shepherd of the Sheep.
Since God hears me, I think I have said enough today. Hopefully, my ramblings helped someone to believe they are not alone, that someone is listening, and that God's plan is still moving forward even though it is hard to measure much progress at times. Thanks Micah for taking a deep breath and speaking a simple truth that allowed this Pastor to emote and vent and count His blessings and regroup. Join me as I seek Him wholeheartedly today.
Pastor Fred
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It has helped indeed, so thank you. Your devotional comes as a confirmation into my own set of circumstances and personal relationship with God. Only hours earlier this morning when I was in prayer with God, my literal words at one point were - "I know you hear me, so ..." and then I finished my thought, completely confident that He heard every word I said. I found overflowing comfort in that, and even more so after reading your devotional. Thank you :)
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