Do not rejoice over me, my enemy; When I fall, I will arise; When I sit in darkness, The Lord will be a light to me. Micah 7:8 (NKJV)
Part 1 – Me, I Will Arise!
The start of Micah 7 is depressing. He was obviously feeling hopeless. He wasn't prophecying about happiness and sunshine but was expressing the deep depression of someone who feels they have nowhere to turn, no one to trust, and no options to choose.
I love these moments in the Bible. They are there for a reason, and not to show us how sinful and ridiculous our ancient spiritual ancestors were either. We often analyse these passages and say to ourselves “Bad Israelites, look what they got themselves into! What were they thinking worshipping idols and turning away from God and all that jazz.”
Have things changed all that much since then?
I mean, yes they have! Technologically, sociologically, geographically, culturally… YES, things have changed. But on a basic human level, there are some things that haven’t changed that much at all.
I’ve been through times where I've felt like the world was against me. I’ve let sin nature lead me into worshipping and devoting my life, my time and energy, to things not pertaining to love or the Divine. Some of my experiences have been my fault; others haven’t. At times, I’ve been misused, mistreated and betrayed, leaving me feeling empty, insecure and finished.
The narrative of the Bible, and of our lives, has never followed the pursuit of perfection.
I love these sad passages because I can relate to them. I can say, “Wow – me too! I’ve felt that way… I’ve done that, I need that, I wish I read this before yesterday happened!!”
And if you learn to look closely at the big picture (which is an oxymoron by the way…), you’ll see that the narrative is about learning, growing, overcoming and becoming. “We’ve all sinned and fallen short…” right? What Jesus did was remove sin as an obstacle in the face of forgiveness and redemption; in the sense of acceptance, growth and love. No matter what you’ve done, in Christ you can be made new. No matter what you will do or what befalls you, in Christ you are redeemed. Sinlessness will be out of our reach until we cross from this life and into the next, but right now we have every opportunity to grow, learn and mature through our weaknesses and mistakes. Christ’s undefeated love broke the power of the nature of sin for all time. It’s still here, but you don’t have to be its slave.
This doesn’t mean we should throw goodness to the wind and sin whenever we feel like it, no. It just puts it in its right place. And Jesus in his.
Micah says, “Do not rejoice over me, my enemy (read: my sin, my mistakes, my hopelessness, what has happened to me…); When I fall, I will rise…”
The issue isn’t how much, or how deep you fall; it's that you can always get back up again.
Go to Part 2 – Path of Grace
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