Today's Word Radio

Brett Meador: Micah doesn't get bogged down in the politics of the corruption. He says, "I will look to the Lord and I will wait on him," which means seeking, praying, asking. And then he confirms, "And God will hear me."

Guest (Male): Pastor Brett Meador encourages having faith like a prophet.

Brett Meador: If the church would just take on Micah's mindset, we'd be that much better off. And that is to look to the Lord, to wait upon the Lord for his salvation, and know that he hears our prayers as we pray and offer our concerns.

Guest (Male): In Micah chapter seven, the prophet shared the bad news first in his honesty about the sin and sorrow surrounding him. Yet when darkness seems overwhelming, Micah reminds us of the good news that our assurance isn't in circumstances, but in the God who delights in steadfast love. Pastor Brett Meador shares the conclusion of this message of hope begun last time in today's word.

Brett Meador: Turn with me to Micah chapter seven. He starts out his whole dissertation here in chapter seven, verse one. He says, "Woe is me. Woe is me." Does he sound like someone else? If you're familiar with the Bible, Isaiah the prophet talks like that. "Woe is me, I'm a man of unclean lips and I live among a people that are full of unclean lips" and all this stuff. One of the things I'd like to remind you is that Isaiah, the big book, some people call the book of Micah sort of the miniature Isaiah because Micah uses the language of Isaiah.

In fact, did you know that Micah and the prophet Isaiah were actually contemporaries and probably friends? I believe they possibly would hang out. How do you know that? They use the exact same sentences. It's like they'd been talking together, and when they wrote their books under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, there's some great similarities. Some people call the book of Micah sort of the Cliff Notes version of Isaiah.

But as it turns out, Micah's a miniature Isaiah, and so some of his language is like Isaiah. But this "Woe is me," it's a feeling of great despair and he's really troubled by what's going on in front of him. And then he, before he gets into the crux of the matter, he uses sort of an analogy. Check this out. It's verse one. He says, "For I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grape gleanings of the vintage. There is no cluster to eat. My soul desired the first ripe fruits."

Micah says, "Man, I'm hungry. I'm really hungry for just some grapes." And so he went to the grape gleanings of the vintage. Now, what's the grape gleanings of the vintage? Well, in the Bible, the Jews had a practice where you wouldn't fully harvest a field, whether you're talking about corn or grain or even the vineyard. You wouldn't completely harvest everything, and you were to leave by Jewish law sections of the field so that weary travelers could come by and the word that they used was glean.

Remember the story of Ruth? As they would glean in the field, that's what Ruth was doing. That's what Jesus and his disciples were doing when they went and ate corn along the way. They were gleaning in that way. So Micah's using this analogy. "I was just hungry for some plump, juicy grapes and I went to the vineyard and there was nothing there. It was bone dry, no grapes at all." What a disappointment. Micah was just saying, "This woe is me. I'm so disappointed. I came for grapes, but there's nothing."

Why? And now he gets to the list of things that are problematic in his culture with his people in his day. He says there in verse two, "The good man is perished out of the earth. There is none upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood. They hunt every man his brother with a net." Wow, this is dark. There's no one that's doing good stuff. Do you ever kind of get that sense? And if you find somebody who seemingly is doing good, don't get to know them because the more you get to know them, you'll realize they're doing bad.

It becomes scary to become friends with people because people do stuff. He's saying, "There's no one doing good things." The word "good" here could also be translated as integrity. There's nobody with integrity or honesty. And Micah's in despair. He says, "Woe is me because of that." And they're lying in wait for blood, violence. They're hunting down every man, not just any man, but their own brothers. They're going against their own brothers, their own family.

Verse three, "That they may do evil with both hands earnestly. The prince asketh and the judge asketh for a reward." In other words, the prince is the word better translated as the political leaders of the day of Micah. They're asking for a reward. The idea is bribe. The judges and the political leaders are all corrupt. "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 now thy visitation cometh. Now shall be their perplexity."

Perplexity. The idea is because of their sinfulness, there's great confusion. By the way, this word perplexity is an interesting one because when the disciples asked Jesus in both Matthew 24 but also Luke chapter 21, one of the things Jesus talked about in the last days, Jesus talked about that there'd be wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes in diverse places, nation rising against nation, ethnicity against ethnicity, pestilence, which could also be disease, would run rampant.

But Jesus goes on in Luke 21 and he says, "And there shall be signs in the sun and in the moon and the stars, upon the whole earth distress of nations with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring and men's heart failing for fear." Jesus said this is the way the last days will be. Men's hearts failing them for fear and perplexity. The same language of Micah. What's this idea of perplexity? It's just who can figure out the complex problems of the world? They're perplexed. There's nothing that seems like a good solution to the problem that they're facing. That's what Micah's saying.

So verse five, he goes on, "Trust ye not in a friend. Put you not confidence in a guide. Keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom." In other words, don't even talk to your wife, maybe your girlfriend, because she'll betray you. These are the days he's talking about. Verse six, "For the son dishonoreth the father, the daughter riseth against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a man's enemies are the men of his own house."

You see, here we have this depressing sort of dirge from Micah the prophet. Things are horrible. And he says, "Woe is me because there's nobody good and people are doing evil things." He says you're hard-pressed to find one good person on the planet. But there's some good news. What do you do when you're in a Micah condition? What do you do when you're depressed? You're like, "Woe is me, the world's falling apart." What do we do when you're frustrated by the evil and the stuff that's going on?

The stuff that Micah lists here, point for point you can compare with our day. So what do you do? Well, Micah gives us the key. And it's a wonderful key. It's a not appreciated key to this problem. Micah has a mindset that's going to get him through this that is the same mindset that can get you through the days we're living. Let's take a look. And it's the final verse that we'll look at. We looked at verses one through six. That's the problem. The solution is in verse seven.

"Therefore," he says. Now, when you're reading the Bible and you see the word "therefore," what do you do? Ask what it's there for. So when you see the word "therefore," what it's saying is because of all that stuff I just said about the corruption and evil and families betraying each other and sinful junk, he said, "Therefore," because of all that, what's he going to do? "I will look unto the Lord. I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me."

What a powerful and important thing for you and I to embrace as the world seems to be kind of going crazy. What do you and I do? Well, let's break this down into three things. Micah nails it here. He says number one, look to the Lord. I'll tell you, when you're in situations that are dire and bad, the tendency is to look at the problem and keep your eyes on the problem. And you know what's funny is you can be really depressed. I think we need to be good at reminding each other.

Husbands and wives and kids and everybody reminding each other that don't keep your eyes on the depressing bad stuff. Some of you are news junkies and you're just watching the news, watching the news, watching the news, and your wife is wondering why you're so grouchy today. Wife, you can say, "Hey, maybe it's time to turn off the news for a little bit." And instead of looking to what's going on over here, maybe we need to look to the Lord. We've got to change what we're fixing our eyes on because you can get real depressed real fast.

It even doesn't take that much to get obsessed really with news and what's going on. Some people, they get this crazy-eyed look and they're like, "Do you know what's going on in the world?" That's a person that's been out there just a little too long. Time to take your eyes off the world situation and look to the Lord. Keep your eyes on the Lord. The Bible is full of this admonition. It's in Psalm 121 verses one through three. "I will lift up mine eyes to the hills from whence cometh my help. My help comes from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.

He will not suffer thy foot to be moved. He that keepeth thee will not slumber." Don't you love that? I'm going to look to the Lord from whence cometh my help. Your help doesn't come from CNN or Fox News or the President of the United States or his press secretary or any of that stuff. Our help comes from the Lord. Look to the Lord. We can learn a lesson, by the way, from Peter. Do you remember the story in Mark chapter nine verses two through eight?

It's also in Matthew 17, but it's the great story of the transfiguration of Christ. It says there that Jesus took Peter, James, and John to a very high mountain place and there they went up and Jesus started to glow white, whiter than snow, brighter white than any fuller could have made them. The idea there in the King James is saying they'd never seen a white brighter than the brightness of Jesus glowing there on the mountain. So there's Jesus glowing white.

And then Peter, James, and John are stunned when they see Moses and Elijah pop into the scene. Now they'd been dead for thousands of years. So to see Moses, it'd be like if suddenly I said, "Hey you guys, I brought a couple guests. First, bing, all of a sudden Abraham Lincoln pops right here. And then, bing, George Washington right here, our founding fathers of our country." We'd be like, "Whoa, Brett, you've got Abraham Lincoln and you've got George and you're up there too, whatever, but whoa."

Now, that's what happens. Peter, he sees this. There's Moses and Jesus and Elijah glowing. And Peter, it says in Mark's Gospel, not knowing what to say, Peter said. I do that sometimes. Have you ever been in that place where you don't know what to say so you start talking? It's guaranteed trouble. Peter, not knowing what to say, said, "Lord, it's good for us to be here. We need to build three tabernacles, one for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah." And before he could get much further into that thought, why was he wanting to build tabernacles?

It's like we're setting up shop here, man. We'll sell tickets. People can come and get their tickets and you want to see Moses? Okay, here's a Moses ticket. You can go and see Moses in the Moses tent. That something, whatever, but Peter's so excited because Moses is there and Elijah is there and Jesus is there. But I get a sense that the reason Peter's excited is because of Moses and Elijah, not because of Jesus. He wasn't really excited when Jesus was just there glowing.

He got excited when Moses and Elijah showed up and he said, "Oh, one for Moses, one for you, Jesus, of course, but one for Elijah too." And then what happened? Then it says a dark cloud came over them instantly and a voice from heaven came booming, thundering from heaven and said, "This is my beloved Son, hear ye him." And the disciples, Peter, James, and John, fell on their face like dead men. They were lying on the ground, face down, quivering in their sandals because of that booming voice that said, "This is my son, hear ye him."

And then eventually when they got the courage, they started to look up. And it says they looked up and saw no man save Jesus only. Interesting story and there's a lot in that story that we could use to apply and learn from. But one of the things I learn as I watch that story is you know what? You and I are very much like Peter. We get excited about people that we think are amazing. People that we think are part of the solution.

I mean, think about this. Let's just pretend for a second. If Peter could have taken one of those three guys back down the mountain with him, who would he have picked? Well, of course he would have picked Jesus. I don't know, man. If Peter could have come down the mountain that day from Mount Hermon with Moses. Have you ever wondered how did Peter, James, and John know it was Moses and Elijah? It's not like they had photographs of Moses to know what he looked like.

Was Moses holding the Ten Commandments? What did Elijah look like? Did he have bolts of lightning kind of flickering out of the tips of his fingers? Because Elijah was the powerful prophet, called fire from heaven and raised dead people and killed 450 prophets of Baal. That's Elijah. Power flowing through his veins. Moses, synonymous with the law. I wonder if Peter thought, "That's what we need. We need Moses to come down this mountain because those Pharisees and Sadducees, they've messed up the law and Moses will let them have it, man, the giver of the law, yeah."

Or what if Peter said, "No, no, no, I want Elijah. What we need is power and fire. Let's have a Pharisee fry. So we'll bring him down, show those crazy Pharisees and say, 'Okay Elijah, let them have it.'" Fire from heaven. That's what we need. I can see why Peter was all excited about Moses and Elijah. But what a sorry exchange. Moses is not a good exchange for Jesus. Elijah is not a good exchange for Jesus. Question, does anybody recall when finally they looked up and saw Jesus only, and then they went down the mountain, do you remember the first thing they stumbled into at the bottom of the mountain? What was the first thing they saw?

Anybody? A demon-possessed guy. That's the first thing they bumped into is a demon-possessed man. Can you imagine if Moses were coming down? Would he have been able to help the demon-possessed man with the law? Well, as it turns out, the Bible even says of itself that the law does not save a person. That poor demon-possessed guy would have been in big trouble had Moses come down, and Moses would have what? Could he bonk him over the head with the Ten Commandments? I don't know, but that wouldn't have helped him.

What about Elijah? He could have come down and seen the demon-possessed guy, but I'm afraid Elijah would have fried him and the poor guy that was holding the demons. Like it would have been over, a little puff of smoke. That wouldn't have been helpful for that guy. Jesus was the only one who could come down the mountain with Peter, James, and John, see this demon-possessed guy, and Jesus had the authority to free this guy from those demons and save him, and he was there in his right mind.

Jesus is the answer, not Moses, the law, not Elijah, the power. Jesus is the best embodiment of all those things. Jesus perfectly fulfilled the law. Jesus has power beyond any other. You and I make the same mistake when we start getting more focused on politicians. "That's what we need. We need to elect the right politician." But keeping our eyes on that, that's the wrong thing. I love the old Andre Crouch song, grew up listening to this. "Jesus is the answer for the world today, above him there's no other. Jesus is the way."

And that's what's so good about looking to Jesus. He is the real solution. You see, when I say look to Jesus, some of you say, "Oh, that's just a bunch of spiritual platitudes of look to Jesus, whatever, but we need real solutions. We need real problems." Well, that's in a way looking to the other things that might seem powerful or good, Moses and Elijah, the law or the power, but you've got to keep your eyes fixed on Jesus. Looking unto Jesus who's the author and the perfecter of our faith.

Keeping your eyes on Jesus. Man, what an important thing. We get sidetracked on things that don't matter. I wonder if the Lord would boom down from heaven to some of us and say, "This is my beloved Son, hear ye him." I wonder if some of us need to hear that word instead of, "This is my Instagram account and I'm going to really use that for letting people have it." Some people, that's a good thing, there's some good things going on there, and you can do all that stuff, but we've got to make the main thing Jesus.

So number one, look to the Lord. Number two, Micah says, "Okay, because all these problems, I'm going to number one look to the Lord. Number two, I'm going to wait on the Lord." What does it mean? That's a Christianese kind of talk. What does it mean to wait on the Lord? Waiting on the Lord means this. What it sounds like, to be patient, but also there's an implication of seeking and asking and praying and asking the Lord for help and just to be patient and still and wait. To be still and know that I am God.

Wait upon the Lord. It's a common thing all throughout the scriptures. Psalm 37:7 says, "Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him. Fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man that brings wicked devices to pass." See, a lot of us understandably could be fretting. And you can fret and you can worry, but it says, "Fret not thyself because of him who's prospering in his way," like Putin, the man who brings wicked devices to pass. Fret not thyself, but rest in the Lord and patiently wait on him. That's the admonition from God's word.

Maybe one of the most classic scriptures, "But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint." Who gets that? That sounds pretty good. I like that idea of flying and running and walking steadily. But that goes to the person who waits on the Lord. Micah knew this. So Micah says while everything's going crazy in his world at that time, he says, "Therefore I will look to the Lord and I will wait on the Lord," as it says here.

But I love his addition to that. He says, "I will wait on the Lord for the God of my salvation." Salvation comes from God. He's the one who saves us. So I will wait upon him. So number one, look to the Lord. Number two, wait on the Lord. Number three, he says then the result of that is God will hear me. But as Christians, it says, "Seek ye first, not second, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteous and then all these other things will be added unto you."

Micah gets it. He doesn't get bogged down in the politics of the corruption. He doesn't get bogged down in trying to stop people from betraying their best friend and their neighbor. He doesn't get into it saying stop doing evil things with both hands. He doesn't get into that. He says, "I will look to the Lord and I will wait on him," which means seeking, praying, asking. And then he confirms, "And God will hear me."

I love what the Psalmist said also, Psalm 61. He says, "Hear my cry, O God, attend unto my prayer. From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee. When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For thou hast become a shelter for me, a strong tower from the enemy. I will abide in thy tabernacle forever and I will trust in the covering of your wings. Selah." The word Selah means think about that. Stop and ponder and meditate on that truth.

When my heart is overwhelmed, Lord lead me to the rock, and us New Testament believers, we know that rock is Christ. We put our feet upon Christ. We look to Jesus who's the one who's going to save us and help us, and we'll stay under the covering of his wings, the rock Jesus that's higher than us. You know, I kind of look at Micah and I think, "Wow, what a good lesson for us today and how appropriate it is." Where we're at in the Bible is where we're at in life.

And what we need, brothers and sisters, today is the Micah mindset. If the church would just take on Micah's mindset, we'd be that much better off. And that is to look to the Lord, to wait upon the Lord for his salvation, but then also to listen or know that he hears our prayers as we pray and offer our concerns and cares. "But what about activity, Brett? When should we go into action?" Only after you've done those first things. Then the Lord might lead you to become more active or do something in a literal kind of way.

And we'll see how that kind of cranks out in Micah's life as we continue our study. But for now, I think this verse seven, Micah 7:7 is a great one. Those three things. Would you make sure you're doing that? Look to the Lord, wait on the Lord. The Lord will hear you. Amen.

Guest (Male): Amen. Pastor Brett Meador with a comforting message in today's word of the sufficiency of the Lord in all our concerns and cares. And Pastor Brett will be closing in prayer in just a moment, so I hope you'll stick around for that. But first, today's word is the radio ministry of Athey Creek Church in the Portland, Oregon area, where Pastor Brett Meador is the senior pastor.

Our vision is to proclaim the hope of salvation and help people know Jesus through careful study of the Bible. We invite you to find out more by going to todayswordradio.com. If you've missed any portion of this study, you'll find all of Pastor Brett's messages online at todayswordradio.com. I also want to mention that in addition to the main Athey Creek campus in West Linn, Oregon, we also have locations in Hillsboro and McMinnville. For more information, just go to todayswordradio.com and click the link "Locations." Again, todayswordradio.com and click the link "Locations." Well, before we end today, Pastor Brett invites you to join him in this brief word of prayer.

Brett Meador: Lord, give us this Micah mindset. I pray that you'd help us, Lord, to be a people who put our trust in you. As we see so many things going awry today, Lord, so many things that are off course and the sad things that are happening in the world, our hearts break. But we also take this time to pray, Lord, that you just cause people to look to you. It's in times of trouble where, Lord, I think sometimes you are the most clearly seen.

And so I pray that people would turn to you and look to you, the author and the perfecter of our faith. Lord, give us wisdom. I pray in these last days that we would shine the light of your Son Jesus on every person around us. I pray that, Lord, your church would be effective. Cause us to put our trust in you. Lord, we do wait upon you both for your direction, for your answers, but also for your coming.

And you tell us, Lord, Jesus told us that in the last days we would see wars and rumors of wars, but to see that we're not troubled by these things, to know that the coming is drawing near. So I pray that we'd look up to the hills from whence cometh our help. We'll keep our eyes on you, and Lord, we do pray that you'd come quickly. Come for your church, we pray. We look forward to that day when you come and set all the wrongs right. Until then, we patiently wait upon you. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Guest (Male): Amen. Pastor Brett Meador closing our time today here on Today's Word. And that's all the time we have. Next time, Pastor Brett will continue another verse-by-verse study from the book of Micah. Today's Word with Pastor Brett Meador is an outreach of Athey Creek Church in West Linn, Oregon.