Misery. And a little bit of light.

MISERY

noun, plural miseries.
1.
wretchedness of condition or circumstances.
2.
distress or suffering caused by need, privation, or poverty.
3.
great mental or emotional distress; extreme unhappiness.
4.
a cause or source of distress.

Micah weeps for Israel. He feels great mental or emotional distress for the wretchedness of condition or circumstances of Israel. He’s experiencing extreme unhappiness as he looks on Israel’s distress or suffering caused by need, privation, or poverty.

There isn’t enough food to go round. There’s hunger and deprivation.

The God who provides is not providing.

The good people have been scattered and the evil ones are hiding round every corner ready to attack.

The God who protects is not protecting.

The rich and powerful become more rich and powerful. There is no justice and fairness.

The God who is just and fair and holy and righteous is not establishing justice.

No one can be trusted, not a neighbour or friend, not even a lover.

The God who expects trust cannot be trusted.

There’s a spiritual misery here too. The people have taken God’s love and provision and protection and justice and faithfulness for granted. Now all that has been stripped away too. Where is God? What is He playing at? Why isn’t He rescuing them as He always has in the past? It’s His reputation at stake here.

And yet Micah refuses to be drowned by this misery. He may not understand, but he will not stop believing.

But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord,
I wait for God my Saviour;
my God will hear me.  Micah 7:7

He refuses to believe that God has let His people down. He clings in hope to God’s faithfulness. He’s watching and waiting. He speaks with assurance. He has no answers, but He knows that God will save him, God will hear him.

We do not have to understand. We simply have to trust.

Do not gloat over me, my enemy!
Though I have fallen, I will rise.
Though I sit in darkness,
the Lord will be my light.  Micah 7:8

I love that. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light. We may experience lots of brief moments of darkness every single day, shadows passing over our lives, or we may be caught up in an all-consuming darkness like the Great Darkness that Mack describes in the ‘The Shack’ (or anything in between). Whatever our darkness looks like, God is always there to be our light.

He will bring me out into the light;
I will see his righteousness.  Micah 7:9

And a day will come when those who ask you ‘Where is your God?’ will experience their own downfall.

A day will come when you can start to rebuild your life.

And until that day, keep looking for the light. Keep trusting in the light. It may be a tiny pinprick, it may be faint and flickering. It may blind you with its brightness in one moment and then diminish to a light at the end of a long tunnel.

But this is what I will say.

Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light.