A Word for Today | Micah 7:18
It is essential in times of distress and anxiety that we know the character of God. We know that God is sovereign and holy, so His purposes in times like the coronavirus are beyond our full understanding. But what is God aiming at? Is God judging us? Is God toying with us so that an unforeseen doom awaits? These questions are unavoidable as we face the anxiety of a deadly virus, a paralyzed economy, and for many of us the real threat of personal loss. But when it comes to our questions about God’s will in our troubles, the attribute on which we can always rely is God’s mercy.
In the dark days during the life of Micah, the prophet concluded his book by worshiping God for His unfailing mercy: “Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression. . . . He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love” (Mic. 7:18). Older translations translate this final statement as “he delights in showing mercy.” Here was Micah’s hope for his people, a hope that was fulfilled when Jesus was born into the world. Yes, God would chastise His people at various times, but the life of faith in Him would always lead to the forgiveness of sins and mercy. Why? Because of the God that He is. He delights in showing mercy. Walter Kaiser writes: “He does not delight in holding a grudge, or in bottling up His anger over our sins,”[1] but instead delights in tender, loving, mercy for his people.
The Scottish minister, Alexander Whyte, told of an evening when an older minister came to discuss some pastoral matters. When their business was completed, the old man seemed to linger and to want the conversation not to end. Finally, he asked, seemingly in jest, “Now, sir, have you any word of comfort for an old sinner like me?” Whyte realized that behind the half-smile was a real seriousness and even a deep agony. He wrote later, “It took my breath away. He was an old saint. But he did not know the peace of forgiveness.” Whyte walked over and sat beside the older minister, opened his Bible to Micah 7:18, and read, “He delights in showing mercy.” The next day, Whyte found a note at his door, reading: “Dear friend, I will never doubt Him again. Guilt had hold of me. I was near the gates of Hell, but that word of God comforted me, and I will never doubt Him again. I will never despair again.”[2]
Dear friends, as the pandemic stretches on and uncertainty mounts in so many of our lives, do not fall into doubt towards God. We do not know all of God’s ways, but through His Word we do know Him. And for all the tempests of life that we must pass, of this we can be sure: “He delights in showing mercy.” Whatever befalls us, let us not cease to pray for God’s mercy, knowing that it is in this that the heart of our God chiefly delights.
In Christ’s Love,
Pastor Phillips
[1] Walter C. Kaiser, Jr., Micah-Malachi, The Communicator’s Commentary (Dallas: Word, 1992), 91.
[2] Cited from Bryan Chapell, The Promises of Grace (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2001), 136-137.