Daily Bread

But as for me, I will look to the Lord,
I will wait for the God of my salvation;
my God will hear me.

Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy;
when I fall, I shall rise;
when I sit in darkness,
the Lord will be a light to me.
I must bear the indignation of the Lord,
because I have sinned against him,
until he takes my side
and executes judgement for me.
He will bring me out to the light;
I shall see his vindication.

Have you ever been let down by someone? It's a rhetorical question because of course you have! People should act with honesty and integrity and be reliable such that we can put our confidence and trust in them, but the truth is that no-one is 100% honest, 100% trustworthy, or 100% reliable. No-one is perfect, and if we think we are perect then we are deluding ourselves.

This passage from the prophet Micah comes immediately after Micah has implored his readers not to trust in people because people will let you down, and when we realise this it leads us to trust in God who will never let us down, the 'God of my salvation'.

Micah then turns his attention from others to himself, and although the prophet is kinda talking about himself as a metaphor for the whole people, he recognises and laments his own weakness and failings, however the prophet is not only remorseful but penitent, and there is a difference between the two.

The 19th Century preacher George Campbell Morgan put it like this (paraphrased by Rev Gav):

"In this passage in Micah we discover the difference between remorse and penitence. When someone is remorseful they are sorry for themselves and mourn over their sin because it has brought them suffering, however, when someone is penitent they are grieved by the way in which their sin has wronged God and understand that it is through this kind of suffering that God is setting them free from their sin."

It's worth reading and pondering on that statement!

When we mess up and sin (i.e. put ourselves first before God, others, and the environment) and it's come back to bite us and we're suffering the consequences of our own actions, we can do one of two things. We can wallow in self-pity or we can recognise that, ultimately, we have hurt God, turn to God, and allow God's love and forgiveness to set us free.

As Micah put it (again, I paraphrase) , "God will bring you out into the light and you will be transformed by the forgiveness of God."

Holy God
You know me better than I know myself,
and I confess to you that I have sinned.
I have thought things, said things, and done things
of which I am ashamed.
I have put my own needs and wants
ahead of you, other people, and the world around me,
and I have offended you.
And so, I turn to you now,
trusting in your unfailing love,
humbly asking that you lead me into the light
that I might be restored through your forgiving love.
In Christ and through Christ
Now and forever.