Plentiful are those who are telling you these days, "You can do it!  You got this!  Live your dream!  If you can dream it, you can do it!"  Why is this message so popular?  The desire for significance and approval and acceptance is strong in each and every one of us.  The desire to count and matter also compels us to do something of great import.

Most of the time, I'm afraid, those who are telling you these things are trying to profit from you.  They want you to do something for them or give something to them.  The health and wealth preacher wants you to give him or her money, and the money they receive is tax free.  The social media expert is trying to get you to buy their flash-in-the-pan product, or to give them enough likes and subscriptions so that their platform can get monetized.  There are the science health experts who tell you that they have figured out how to beef up your body or to keep your body healthier longer with this one supplement.  Movies and TV shows all give the same, consistent message: do what you want!  You live in the land of opportunity, so reach out and grab that opportunity!  Your options are limited only by your imagination!

Who, then, is the operator in this endeavor?  Who gets the credit for this endeavor?  You are, and you do!  That makes us feel good: I accomplished something.  I set out to do a big thing, and I did it!  I overcame my fears, and I reached my goals.  I convinced enough people to buy something from me such that I can now go and live a life of indulgence from now on.

Is that the sense in which Micah the prophet says, "Though I have fallen, I will rise?"

Absolutely not!

How do I know?

Look at verse 9 (ESV).

"I will bear the indignation of the LORD because I have sinned against Him,

Until He pleads my cause and executes judgment for me.

He will bring me out to the light;

I shall look upon His vindication."

What does Micah do in this verse?  He certainly doesn't unlace his own boots and pull himself up. 

What does he do?

He humbles himself before the Lord his God.  He accepts the Lord's rage and indignation against him, for he sees that he has sinned against God.  This is a tremendous realization.  This is exactly what the fear of the Lord is.  This is the beginning of wisdom: to acknowledge that I am without the ability to accomplish anything of eternal significance on my own.  Wisdom begins with saying, "I am completely helpless before God.  I do not have this.  In fact, I cannot get this.  Apart from Christ, I can accomplish nothing."

Oh, we can build buildings.  We can help people save a lot of money.  We can help improve people's lives in this world.  We can build machines that make our lives easier.  We can change our outward behaviors to a certain extent.

But we cannot change who we are.  We cannot change the fact that we have all sinned against a good and holy God Who is just to punish all sins and Who is merciful to punish some of those sins in the death of Jesus Christ for the sake of all whom He has chosen to believe. 

What happens when you believe?  You turn from relying upon yourself to relying upon God.  You turn from thinking, "I've got this," to, "Help!!"  You recognize God and God alone as the hope of your salvation from none other than God Himself!  You see that He is good and gracious to forgive anyone at all.  You see that He pulls you out of darkness into His marvelous light for your benefit and to His glory!  You see that life is not about you.  It is about God, for He alone has life in Himself.  He alone cannot die, for death is the wages of sin, and for God to die would mean that God had sinned.  He has eternal life to give to all His believing saints, which means that He will never and indeed can never sin! 

When God pleads your case before God, you can rise from the ashes and say, "Yes, your accusations are true, but God is for me.  Who can be against me?"  You say, "I was once in the darkness of trying to accomplish things on my own.  Now I am in the light of accomplishing all that He has placed before me in His strength and for His glory.  I once hated God for His control over my life.  Now I love Him for being in control of all things.  There is no greater rest or comfort known to anyone."

This is the cleansing that God proclaims in Micah.  The cleansing of the judgment upon all sin, whether upon the sinners themselves or upon Christ Who now intercedes on behalf of all for whom He particularly died.

Are you among those whose heart says, "Yes!  I love the God of Scripture Who has revealed Himself once for all!"  Or are you among those who say, "How can God be just to choose some and not others, for who can resist His will?"  I pray it is the first.  I pray that God changes your heart as He has mine. 

#comeandseeJesus

#comeandlivebyfaith

#loveandworshipHim

#SoliDeoGloria