Micah 4:2 - Homiletics

God our Teacher.

"And he will teach us of his ways." How?

I. BY WORKING IN OUR HEARTS THE SPIRIT OF TRUE HUMILITY . There must be humility in order that we may apprehend spiritual things. We must become "as little children" would we enter the kingdom of truth. And this disposition is fitting; for what, after all, are we but children in relation to such knowledge? "Embryos we are all." Too many, forgetting this, and cherishing the opposite spirit, misapprehend or pervert the meaning of God's truth. Pride of intellect is cherished, and, strong and dogmatic in their adherence to false intellectual conceptions, they miss the highest truth. "The meek will he guide in judgment, and the meek will he teach his way." As low trees and shrubs are free from many violent gusts and blasts of wind which shake and rend the taller trees, so humble souls are free from those gusts and blasts of error that rend and tear proud lofty souls." "The high tide quickly ebbs." "The valleys laugh with fatness when the hills are bare." "I thank thee, O Father," etc. ( Matthew 11:25 , Matthew 11:26 ).

II. BY CONSTRAINING US TO CHERISH THE SPIRIT OF HEARTY OBEDIENCE . By the gentle constraints of Divine love the will is brought into harmony with the higher and perfect will of God; and to the man thus obedient there is unfolded the glorious treasures of Divine wisdom and knowledge. "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him, and he will show them his covenant" ( Psalms 25:14 ); "Then shall we know, if we follow on," etc. ( Hosea 6:3 ).

III. BY IMPARTING UNTO US SPIRITUAL DISCERNMENT . The heart being rendered humble and obedient, light springs up within; a spiritual insight is imparted; the unction of the Holy One rests upon the man; higher perceptions are his; he apprehends and understands truths which formerly were unperceived or distorted by him. "Pure in heart," he "sees God;" spiritually minded, he discovers spiritual things. God's ways stand revealed to him, and God's Word is no longer a dead letter, but is instinct with life and power to his soul. Then, with an earnest desire to enter into the full significance of spiritual realities, and with a deep consciousness of our own weakness and need of guidance, we do well to cry, "Lead us in thy truth and teach us;" and to rejoice in the encouraging assurance, "And he will teach us of his ways."