The Pulpit Commentary — Micah — Section 110

mouthpiece of the good but prophetically as the seer, Micah delivers the Assurance he· wRs inspired by God to utter, and bearing upon the time to come. His words, as rendered in the Authorized Version, are somewhat obscure, bnt we gather from them- t.hat a brighter future should dawn upon the world sin had darkened and defiled, and: of that glorious era he here speaks. And as his people, in the days when they" sat by 1:,he rivers of Babylon, and wept as they remembered Zion," and thought of the desolation, sin had wrought, turned to these and similar assurances of the golden age yet to come, 1Vho can tell to what an extent they became nerved afresh and inspired with renewed coumge and hope ! Even so let those to-day who grieve, with the good through all ages, over the blighting effects of sin, rejoice in the prospect of the ultimate victory. "Lift op your heads . . . redemption draweth nigh." Now death reigns and sin triumphs; but ere long grace shall reign through righteousness unto eternal life. Every throe of sorrow is bringing us nearer to the time of the world's full deliverance from the power of evil. The triumph is sure. "The Lord God Omnipotent reigneth.' .. This suggestive paragraph closes with a note of warning. "Notwithstanding," etc. ( 1·er. 13). There is a glorious future awaiting the Church of God, but meanwhile the work of judgment must be perfected. Notwithstanding the bright prospect here unfolded, sin will assuredly work its dire effects. The triumph of righteousness carries with it the defeat of unrighteousness. ·one of the poets sings of a bell suspended on· the Inchcape rock, that the sound might warn the sailors of their nearness to danger; and tells how pirates cut the bell so as to silence the sound ; and how that subse- quently these same pirates struck upon the very rock which they had deprived of its means of warning them. Let us not thus treat this note of warning, but be constrained to" break off sin by righteousness," as it reminds us that "God is not mocked," and: that "whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." Ver. 7.- Waiting for God. "I will wait for the God of my salvation." The good, personified, &Te here represented as declaring that they would place themselves in harmony with the wise and holy will of God; that they would trustingly acquiesce and quietly endure, drawing from intimate personal relationship to God ihat holy inspiration which would enable them in the dark days now before them, with true heroism to encounter every difficulty, and with calm resignation to bear every sorrow, and to find in so doing tranquillity and peace. "I will wait," etc. (ver. 7). l. OUB CIBCUXSTANCES IN LIFE OFTEN CALL FOB THE F-XERCISE OF THIS SPIRIT OF' PATIENT WAITING FOB GoD. It is the method of our God by slow processes to bring to pass all that he has designed, whether in nature, in providence, or in grace. His purposes are gradually evolved. His delays are for wise and gracious reasons. Hence, instead of fretting and repining and growing impatient under adversity, as though some strange thing were happening to us, it behoves us to " rest in the Lord," and so be cheerful even in the night and under the shadow of the cloud, assured that to those rightly exercised by sorrow "tribulation worketh patience, and patience expe- rience, and experience hope" (Rom. v. 3, 4). II. TRE CHERISHING OF TRlB SPIBIT ENNOBLES RUMAN CHARACTER. 1. You 868 in S'IJ,Ch a case a man who is continually gaini11g triumphs where multitudes are worsW and defeated. There are many who can do, but who cannot bear. They can actively serve God and strive to promote the interests of men, but they cannot passively yield themselves up to the will of God, and, without resentment, bear the reproaches of those who seek their hurt. And certainly the man who is able to do this is the more rovaL Who can doubt the wisdom of Solomon when he said," He that ruleth his spirit is better than he that taketh a city" (Prov. xvi. 32)? 2. You see in auch a case a man who is clearly under the infl'l/,/Jnce of high Christian motives. The influences which impel a man calmly and trustingly to submit to God's all-wise but often inscrutable appointments, are not human, but Divine. There is nothing in mere earthly considerations that is at all calculated to inspire this patience. It is only as we bring the realities of eternity to bear upon our present experiences that we become li;ted up to a higher realm, and are enabled patiently to endure. III. BY THIB PATIENT WAITING GoD IB GLORIFIED AND BEBVED. The thought of service to God is too often restricted to active endeavour. It is overlooked that he ll..iay be served by us passively as well as actively; by quiet resignation to hie will as <lll. VII. 1-20,] THE DOOK OF MICAH. 113