Today's Word Radio

Brett Meador: 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. We got to change what we're fixing our eyes on because, man, you can get real depressed real fast.

Guest (Male): Pastor Brett Meador says when life gets you down, hope is found by looking up. We get sidetracked on things that don't matter. 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. But maybe we need to look to the Lord.

Just when things seem to be turning around for the better, the situation in the prophet Micah's day suddenly got worse. But Pastor Brett Meador notes how the issues surrounding the deplorable state of the nation of Israel could easily be ripped from our current headlines. But fortunately, in today's word, Micah also gives us a remedy to help us handle the dark days.

Brett Meador: Is anyone here slightly troubled by what's going on in the world? Some of you are like, "No." That means you're ignorantly blissful. Some of you are wise probably to stay away from news and all that because if you watch the news, things are troubling. I do believe though, the Bible says as Christians we're to watch and see the signs of the times and the days that we're living.

The American psyche as far as the experts say is depression and anxiety. Well, as it turns out, Micah the prophet is in exactly that place. He's in a place where he was hoping to see something good, but he's like us, hoping that we're getting to the end of this crisis that we're dealing with, but only to find ourselves with more trouble. And he starts out his whole dissertation here in chapter 7, verse 1. He says, verse 1, "Woe is me."

Woe is me. Does he sound like someone else? If you're familiar with the Bible, you know Isaiah the prophet talks like this. "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. And one of the things I'd like to remind you 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. Well, 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 a sort of an analogy. Check this out. It's verse 1. 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 fruit." Micah says, "Oh man, I'm hungry. I'm really hungry for just some grapes." And so he went to the grape gleanings. 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 usually the corners of the field so that travelers, 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. Oh man, 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's just saying, "Oh, well, 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 2, "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's seemingly 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.

And he's saying, "Oh man, 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 3, "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 the political leaders of the days of Micah. They're asking for 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... You know, Jesus talked about 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 in 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 5, he goes on, "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." 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 6, "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. "Man, things are horrible." And he says, "Woe is me," because there's nobody good and people are doing evil things. In fact, it's interesting because he sort of lists the things here. And let's go over this. He says, "You're hard-pressed to find one good person on the planet. And they lie in wait for blood." The idea is violence.

Did you know that Jesus talked about this in Matthew 24? At the end of the world, he said the end times will be like the days of Noah. So it does one real good to actually search the story of Noah and say, "What was Noah's day like?" Because in Genesis chapter 6, it tells us: multiplication of population, which we're seeing on the earth today, explosion of population. That was happening in Noah's day.

But also violence increased in the days of Noah. People were just being generally violent. That's the idea of men are lying in wait for blood, hunters like with a net, he says there in verse 2. And we're seeing violence at a whole another level, just on the streets of America. We see violence. The shootings are up all across America, in all the cities, especially the cities that have defunded the police. "Whoa, that's amazing. Why would crime go up when you defund the police? I can't figure that out." It's so funny how stupid we are.

Did you see in, I think it was New York, where this big huge guy's walking down the street and he steps out, there's this mother and her little four-year-old daughter? And the guy, you know this whole sucker punching thing where people will just punch someone without even letting them know it's coming? This guy does this to the four-year-old girl. He just walks by and punches her with all of his might and the little girl goes flying and tumbling out into the street.

Now, I have to say that was horrifying. But I have to say, good news, the little girl was actually okay. Little kids are amazingly resilient. But even more satisfying, the mother, she wasn't this big burly girl, but she goes like in a bolt of lightning, she shoots across the road to this guy who did this, and she jumps behind him and grabs him by the back and pulls his hoodie and just starts choking him out with his own hoodie and pulls him to the ground. And she holds him, he's like a turtle on the ground like this, and she holds him there till the cops come. That was an amazing thing.

See, you're all so violent. No, I'm just joking. But we feel that sense of joy because violence and this unfair stuff that's going on as far as people just being violent, it's all over our country. And then people just love to see that stuff. And then there's a line here in verse 3 where it says "that they may do evil with both hands earnestly." That's an idiom of the Jews to say, "Man, we're all in." That's the way we would say it today. You're all in to do as evil as you can possibly conjure up. That's what it means to go in with both hands earnestly.

Man, when you look at the evil propensity for people to create and invent more evil things in this world. And man, we don't even need to go into all the stuff with sexual promiscuity and pornography and sexual gross things that people are doing today. It's just perverse. But evil, inventing new evil things. Robots that are sex robots and stuff that people are passing around and doing and renting and crazy. We're just all in. We're all in when it comes to evil.

I can't really understand verse 3 where it says these judges and politicians are being bribed. I mean, corruption? We don't have that problem. We're concerned watching what's going on in the United States because of corruption and really all over the world. But as it turns out, his description perfectly aligns with our day. In fact, check out verse 5, "Trust ye not in a friend." Some of your newer translations say neighbor, "Don't trust your neighbor."

It goes on in that same verse, verse 5, "Trust not in a friend and put not confidence in a guide." Some of your newer translation they don't use the word guide, but the Hebrew word is that. The guide is the person who should know how to give you good advice and direction. People that you would normally trust. You'd normally trust a guide. That's why you would hire a guide to take you through and show you the ropes and show you what's the truth. But here Micah says, "Man, you can't even trust the guides."

Who are our guides today that we don't trust? You know, the CDC? I used to trust them. Do you guys remember when you'd think, "Oh, the CDC, it's a bunch of scientists with lab coats." So when they said eating hamburgers are unhealthy and they'll shorten your life, man, I trust them and I realize, "Oh, I don't want to live forever, so I'm just going to eat more burgers. Thank you. That's great. Die happy." That's my philosophy.

The CDC, we used to trust them. But what happened? Why did we start to not trust? Well, did you see the CDC isn't publishing large portions of the COVID data that it collects? This article goes on and says, "The CDC is a political organization as much as it is a public health organization," said Samuel Scarpino, managing director of pathogen surveillance at the Rockefeller Foundation's Pandemic Prevention Institute. The steps that it takes to get something like this released are often well outside the control of the scientists that work at CDC. So it's not the scientists that are working at the CDC that's the problem. It's the higher-ups that are trying to control information to the crowds and not giving the people the real information. Why? The CDC gave us this answer: "You can't handle the truth." Well, if you're really honest, if you look what's going on and watch what's going on the news, we're realizing they've held back all kinds of information. So now we're in this day like Micah's day, you can't even trust the people that are supposed to be our guides. It's amazing to me that they're asking, "Why can't you trust the CDC?" Well, we used to. We used to believe, but not anymore.

The last verse there, end of verse 5 and 6, you can't even trust your own family. Mother and son dishonoring his father, daughter rising up against her mother. We're seeing more division in this country in families than ever. And around the world, really, especially depending on what view you hold. I know many of you, your families have been greatly divided because of what your philosophy is on church or whatever. Or just your general politics. Man, we're really divided. Okay, now we're really depressed, Pastor Brett. Thank you. I came to church for encouragement.

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, man, 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. We looked at verses 1 through 6. That's the problem. The solution is in verse 7. "Therefore," he says. Now, when you're reading the Bible and you see the word therefore, what do you do? Find out 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 got to change what we're fixing our eyes on because, man, 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 who'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 1 through 3. "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? Man, look to the Lord. 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's Gospel? Mark chapter 9, verses 2 through 8 is the great story—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 here to Athey Creek." First bing, all of a sudden Abraham Lincoln pops right here. And then bing, George Washington right here. Founding Fathers of our country, George Washington and the abolitionist, the one that ended slavery. We'd be like, "Whoa, Brett, you've got Abraham Lincoln and you've got George and you're up there too, whatever, but wow!"

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... Now, why was he wanting to build tabernacles? 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's 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 real 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 faces like dead men. They were lying on the ground face down, quivering in their sandals because of that booming voice that "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. 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 politicians." But keeping our eyes on that, that's the wrong thing. I love the old Andrae Crouch song, you know, 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 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." We got to make the main thing Jesus. So number one, look to the Lord.

Guest (Male): Pastor Brett Meador is just partway through the prophet Micah's list of solutions for the believer's response to the decaying world, not only in the time of Micah, but familiar to our day as well. And we hope you'll be along next time for more from Micah chapter 7 in today's word. And stay right there as Pastor Brett will join me to answer an interesting question.

But first, Pastor Brett Meador is the senior pastor of Athey Creek Church, just outside of Portland, Oregon. Each day, Pastor Brett will bring you a verse-by-verse study of God's word. If you've missed any portion of our time today, you'll find all of his messages online at todayswordradio.com. I also want to mention that in addition to the main Athey Creek campus in West Linn, we also have locations in Hillsboro and McMinnville, Oregon. For more information, just go to todayswordradio.com and click on the link locations. Again, todayswordradio.com and click the link locations.

All right, I have Pastor Brett with me now. Brett, here's a question I know you've answered before, but what are some of your heroes of the faith that you read about or look to for inspiration?

Brett Meador: Well, I have to say, you know, there's so many. I like reading all of the guys that are generations ago. I think Charles Haddon Spurgeon's one of my favorites. He was so articulate and was able to bring the hay down from the loft so that the average person could really understand the scriptures. Speaking of that, I think I got that "hay down from the loft," that terminology from J. Vernon McGee. I loved him. He inspired me to go verse-by-verse through the Bible. Just a great guy.

You know, some of my modern-day heroes of course would be Billy Graham and Greg Laurie and some of these guys that just have been unafraid to share the gospel and have really inspired me, especially with the simple gospel message and letting that be what we focus on. So I've got a long list. You know, I've read every sermon that Spurgeon's ever preached. That's probably my number one go-to.

Guest (Male): Ah, you're definitely not alone on that one. Thank you, Pastor Brett. Well, if you'd like more information about Athey Creek Church, Pastor Brett Meador, or today's word, you can visit our website at todayswordradio.com. That's todayswordradio.com. Well, that's all the time we have. Next time Pastor Brett Meador will continue to look at the prophet Micah, and we'll see that when darkness seems overwhelming, we're reminded that our assurance isn't in circumstances, but in the God who delights in steadfast love.

Today's word with Pastor Brett Meador is an outreach of Athey Creek Church in West Linn, Oregon.