Bearing Indignation - Micah 7:9

⁹I will bear the indignation of the Lord

Because I have sinned against Him,

Until He pleads my case and executes justice for me.

He will bring me out to the light,

And I will see His righteousness.

In Micah 7:7, Micah says that he is waiting expectantly on God, the God of his salvation. I ended the last post asking from what Micah was expecting to be saved. Some might look at parts of the context here in Micah 7 and assume he was awaiting physical deliverance from his enemy. Micah even speaks directly to his enemy in 7:8. Add to that the fact that Micah was a contemporary of Isaiah, and that a reading Isaiah will show that Judah suffered attack from various national enemies in this time-frame, an expectation of physical deliverance seems quite plausible.

But it really doesn't fit the context. Micah expresses real concern about the wickedness of his people in 7:1-6. But in 7:8, it is not there sin that is his focus. He will bear indignation because he has sinned. In other words, he doesn't expect to be delivered from the physical consequences of his sin. His sin will be upon him, not till he improves himself; not till, as some would have us believe, he becomes a faithful one; but until God pleads his case.

Micah's expectation is that his sin will be dealt with because God will "execute justice for me." This is not seen as deliverance from the enemy, but as Micah being brought from darkness to light. Micah's salvation is not having righteousness, but seeing God's righteousness. There's a wonderful lesson about God's sovereignty in salvation in these verses as well, but I leave that for you to draw out on your own.

Now, you might be thinking that I'm stretching a bit here. After all, in 7:10 Micah goes back to talking about his enemy. But who is this enemy? This enemy, I'm convinced, is the personification of sin. Notice that the enemy is feminine, so it is not Satan. Also notice that the enemy asks, "Where is the Lord your God?"

Need more convincing? If God so wills and I should live, I'm not done yet. We still have not discussed Micah's glorious conclusion.

[FYI. No quote this week, nor Bridges tomorrow. This will be a short week for me. I'm hoping for at least one more post tomorrow or Thursday, then I'll likely be off-line until Monday. If God should allow, I'll be in Minneapolis this weekend for the Desiring God national conference. And I'm not a prophet, nor the son of a prophet, but if Voddie Baucham isn't the surprise talk of the conference . . . well, I'll be surprised.]