(REFLECTIONS ON Micah 7:1-20)

1 Woe is me! For I am
Like the fruit pickers, like the grape gatherers.
There is not a cluster of grapes to eat,
Or a first-ripe fig which I crave.
2 The godly person has perished from the land,
And there is no upright person among men.
All of them lie in wait for bloodshed;
Each of them hunts the other with a net.

Micah, prophet of the Lord, compares himself to a fruit picker, like a grape gatherer, going out and trying to harvest the fruit of the land. However, there is nothing left to harvest.

Micah uses this to symbolize the lack of godly people in the land. For the godly person, as he says, has perished from the land. What is left? Micah states,

3 Concerning evil, both hands do it well.
The prince asks, also the judge, for a bribe,
And a great man speaks the desire of his soul;
So they weave it together.

What is left is corruption, personal desire and gain, where the prince and the judge, the ruler and the upholder of law, knows only bribery, and where a great man speaks the desire of his soul, rather than the word of the Lord.

And so they weave it together, creating a web of lies, corruption, deceit, and pride. There is no trust, not in a neighbor, friend, even in the household. “A man’s enemies are the men of his own household.”

Yet, despite this, Micah watches and waits expectantly for the Lord. This is a reminder that Micah is not only someone that speaks the word of God, but is also someone that despite the unfaithfulness of their surroundings, knows God and hopes in His faithfulness.

7 But as for me, I will watch expectantly for the Lord;
I will wait for the God of my salvation.
My God will hear me.

Even in the midst of people saying “Where is the Lord your God?” The prophet of the Lord watches and waits for the Lord to move. Micah is confident in the unchanging love of God.

Yes, as Christians, it isn’t just about serving God, checking off that we have read the Bible, prayed, or done Christian things, but to be confident and testify to the unchanging love of God.

18 Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity
And passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession?
He does not retain His anger forever,
Because He delights in unchanging love.

20 You will give truth to Jacob
And unchanging love to Abraham,
Which you swore to our forefathers
For the days of old.

Let us also hold on to the unchanging love of God that was expressed in His promise to Abraham, was fulfilled in God’s Son, Jesus Christ, and that continues to manifest in our lives and in our church through the work of the Holy Spirit.

Despite the world saying to us, “Where is the Lord your God?” may we not join those that have turned faith into their own benefit and with others weave it together, but stand firm in our faith, not because of our love, but because of God’s unchanging love.

Pastor Michael Lu
Enduring Word Bible Commentary: Micah 7