How Bad Is It Really?

 

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How Bad Is It Really?

Well the answer is pretty bad. The state of morality is bad. The state of civilisation is currently bad. The state of higher education is bad. The state of the collected wisdom of the leaders of the West is bad. The state of the average person’s understanding of what is right is bad. So, in many ways the state of our society is in bad shape. This cannot be denied. But there is an aspect of this in which I find encouragement. Micah the prophet helps me here. 

Note what Micah says in chapter 7 of his small prophetic book,

1 Woe is me! For I have become
    as when the summer fruit has been gathered,
    as when the grapes have been gleaned:
there is no cluster to eat,
    no first-ripe fig that my soul desires.
2 The godly has perished from the earth,
    and there is no one upright among mankind;
they all lie in wait for blood,
    and each hunts the other with a net.
3 Their hands are on what is evil, to do it well;
    the prince and the judge ask for a bribe,
and the great man utters the evil desire of his soul;
    thus they weave it together.
4 The best of them is like a brier,
    the most upright of them a thorn hedge.
The day of your watchmen, of your punishment, has come;
    now their confusion is at hand.
5 Put no trust in a neighbour;
    have no confidence in a friend;
guard the doors of your mouth
    from her who lies in your arms;
6 for the son treats the father with contempt,
    the daughter rises up against her mother,
the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
    a man's enemies are the men of his own house.
7 But as for me, I will look to the Lord;
    I will wait for the God of my salvation;
    my God will hear me.
8 Rejoice not over me, O my enemy;
    when I fall, I shall rise;
when I sit in darkness,
    the Lord will be a light to me.
9 I will bear the indignation of the Lord
    because I have sinned against him,
until he pleads my cause
    and executes judgement for me.
He will bring me out to the light;
    I shall look upon his vindication.
10 Then my enemy will see,
    and shame will cover her who said to me,
    “Where is the Lord your God?”
My eyes will look upon her;
    now she will be trampled down
    like the mire of the streets.
11 A day for the building of your walls!
    In that day the boundary shall be far extended.
12 In that day they will come to you,
    from Assyria and the cities of Egypt,
and from Egypt to the River,
    from sea to sea and from mountain to mountain.
13 But the earth will be desolate
    because of its inhabitants,
    for the fruit of their deeds.
14 Shepherd your people with your staff,
    the flock of your inheritance,
who dwell alone in a forest
    in the midst of a garden land;
let them graze in Bashan and Gilead
    as in the days of old.
15 As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt,
    I will show them marvellous things.
16 The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might;
they shall lay their hands on their mouths;
    their ears shall be deaf;
17 they shall lick the dust like a serpent,
    like the crawling things of the earth;
they shall come trembling out of their strongholds;
    they shall turn in dread to the Lord our God,
    and they shall be in fear of you.

18 Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity
    and passing over transgression
    for the remnant of his inheritance?
He does not retain his anger for ever,
    because he delights in steadfast love.
19 He will again have compassion on us;
    he will tread our iniquities underfoot.
You will cast all our sins
    into the depths of the sea.
20 You will show faithfulness to Jacob
    and steadfast love to Abraham,
as you have sworn to our fathers
    from the days of old.”

Micah is describing a nation, two nations really, that are in a sorry state of moral decay. They are declining. They are on their way down. They have probably hit close to moral rock bottom already.

The leaders are evil. The people are evil. Neighbours cannot be trusted. The great among them leads their people to evil. Family is turning upon family. Israel and Judah are in a wicked state, a terrible state. "Woe is me!" he says, because all around him is reasons for woe. 

But what encourages me about this is that we are reading this letter.

What do I mean?

I mean, that obviously Micah managed to pass on his stand for righteousness to someone else, someone of the next generation, who passed it on to someone else, who passed it on to others, who have brought it all the way down to us. In other words, though society got this bad, the righteous still made it through, and have not been destroyed from the face of the earth. Generation after generation have risen up to take the place of the Micah’s of this world. And those of us who stand for righteousness today are in his line. And be encouraged, because we will pass it on to another generation, and so will it continue until our Lord returns.

Goodness will be harassed, pilloried, attacked, maligned, persecuted, rejected and shunned. But it will march on, because it is supported and empowered by our great and good God, and activated in this world by imperfect but noble and trusting people who know their God is on their side and on the side of goodness. We who believe are in this line, and because of this we are on the winning team.

Trust in God, because he will prove himself faithful, “20 You will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old.” Do not give up your hope and faith in Jesus, because it is a sure hope, a stable and secure hope. When you are tempted to give up, just note that a man like Micah, against all odds, could successfully past his faith on, and so too can we. If we keep the hope alive, and praise God, many of us will. Be among that many. Continue to hope and trust in the Lord, no matter how the world looks.