Only God Can Pardon
Opening Prayer
Lord, thank You for Your promise of forgiving sin and canceling out its punishment.
Read Micah 7:1–20
What misery is mine!
I am like one who gathers summer fruit
at the gleaning of the vineyard;
there is no cluster of grapes to eat,
none of the early figs that I crave.
2 The faithful have been swept from the land;
not one upright person remains.
Everyone lies in wait to shed blood;
they hunt each other with nets.
3 Both hands are skilled in doing evil;
the ruler demands gifts,
the judge accepts bribes,
the powerful dictate what they desire—
they all conspire together.
4 The best of them is like a brier,
the most upright worse than a thorn hedge.
The day God visits you has come,
the day your watchmen sound the alarm.
Now is the time of your confusion.
5 Do not trust a neighbor;
put no confidence in a friend.
Even with the woman who lies in your embrace
guard the words of your lips.
6 For a son dishonors his father,
a daughter rises up against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—
a man’s enemies are the members of his own household.
7 But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord,
I wait for God my Savior;
my God will hear me.
Israel Will Rise
8 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.
9 Because I have sinned against him,
I will bear the Lord’s wrath,
until he pleads my case
and upholds my cause.
He will bring me out into the light;
I will see his righteousness.
10 Then my enemy will see it
and will be covered with shame,
she who said to me,
“Where is the Lord your God?”
My eyes will see her downfall;
even now she will be trampled underfoot
like mire in the streets.
11 The day for building your walls will come,
the day for extending your boundaries.
12 In that day people will come to you
from Assyria and the cities of Egypt,
even from Egypt to the Euphrates
and from sea to sea
and from mountain to mountain.
13 The earth will become desolate because of its inhabitants,
as the result of their deeds.
Prayer and Praise
14 Shepherd your people with your staff,
the flock of your inheritance,
which lives by itself in a forest,
in fertile pasturelands.
Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead
as in days long ago.
15 “As in the days when you came out of Egypt,
I will show them my wonders.”
16 Nations will see and be ashamed,
deprived of all their power.
They will put their hands over their mouths
and their ears will become deaf.
17 They will lick dust like a snake,
like creatures that crawl on the ground.
They will come trembling out of their dens;
they will turn in fear to the Lord our God
and will be afraid of you.
18 Who is a God like you,
who pardons sin and forgives the transgression
of the remnant of his inheritance?
You do not stay angry forever
but delight to show mercy.
19 You will again have compassion on us;
you will tread our sins underfoot
and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.
20 You will be faithful to Jacob,
and show love to Abraham,
as you pledged on oath to our ancestors
in days long ago.
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
“Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to thy cross I cling… foul, I to the fountain fly; wash me, Savior, or I die” (Augustus Toplady, 1740–1778).
I cannot read verses 18–20 without thinking of other passages of Scripture. Moses’ song of the sea, for example, proclaims, “Who among the gods is like you, Lord? Who is like you—majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?” (Exod. 15:11). Also in
Exodus, God hides Moses in the cleft of the rock and appears to him. Moses learns that YHWH is “the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin” (Exod. 34:6,7).
Many of the key words or phrases in the Exodus passages reappear here in Micah. Most striking among them is the Hebrew phrase nōśê’ ‘āwôn. In Exodus, NIV translates it, “forgiving wickedness”; in Micah, “who pardons sin” (18). The root nāśā means to “lift,” “carry,” “carry away” or “bear,” whereas ‘āwôn denotes both iniquity and its punishment. Micah tells us that God will completely remove the transgressions of his people by drowning them in the depths of the sea (19), thereby rescinding punishment. Yet the transgressions Micah has in mind have victims. It is no light matter that God promises to forgive our sins. There is then perhaps a hint that when God removes them, it costs him heavily.
This idea comes to the fore in the suffering servant of Isaiah who “bore (nāśā) the sin of many” (Isa. 53:12). The New Testament applies this passage to the crucifixion of Jesus, the eternal Son of God. Jesus himself certified as much in Luke 22:37. As Peter puts it, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed” (1 Pet. 2:24, RSV). Verse 18 seems to say, in the words of Charles Allen Dinsmore (1860–1941): “there was a cross in the heart of God before there was one planted on the green hill outside of Jerusalem.”
Apply
Think about your own transgressions and trust the one who bore them to forgive you. Has someone hurt you? Are there people who cannot forgive you? Can you forgive them?
Closing prayer
God of Tender Mercies, cause us to understand the gravity of sinning against You and the magnanimity of Your willingness to forgive us.
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