Micah 7:7 - Homiletics

Waiting for God.

"I will wait for the God of my salvation." The good, personified, are here represented as declaring that they would place themselves in harmony with the wise and holy will of God; that they would trustingly acquiesce and quietly endure, drawing from intimate personal relationship to God that holy inspiration which would enable them in the dark days now before them, with true heroism to encounter every difficulty, and with calm resignation to bear every sorrow, and to find in so doing tranquillity and peace. "I will wait," etc. ( Micah 7:7 ).

I. OUR CIRCUMSTANCES IN LIFE OFTEN CALL FOR THE EXERCISE OF THIS SPIRIT OF PATIENT WAITING FOR GOD . It is the method of our God by slow processes to bring to pass all that he has designed, whether in nature, in providence, or in grace. His purposes are gradually evolved. His delays are for wise and gracious reasons. Hence instead of fretting and repining and growing impatient under adversity, as though some strange thing were happening to us, it behoves us to "rest in the Lord," and so be cheerful even in the night and under the shadow of the cloud, assured that to those rightly exercised by sorrow "tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope" ( Romans 5:8 , Romans 5:4 ).

II. THE CHERISHING OF THIS SPIRIT ENNOBLES HUMAN CHARACTER .

1 . You see in such a case a man who is continually gaining triumphs where multitudes are worsted and defeated. There are many who can do, but who cannot bear. They can actively serve God and strive to promote the interests of men, but they cannot passively yield themselves up to the will of God, and, without resentment, bear the reproaches of those who seek their hurt. And certainly the man who is able to do this is the more royal. Who can doubt the wisdom of Solomon when he said, "He that ruleth his spirit is better than he that taketh a city" ( Proverbs 16:32 )?

2 . You see in such a case a man who is clearly under the influence of high Christian motives. The influences which impel a man calmly and trustingly to submit to God's all-wise but often inscrutable appointments, are not human, but Divine. There is nothing in mere earthly considerations that is at all calculated to inspire this patience. It is only as we bring the realities of eternity to bear upon our present experiences that we become lifted up to a higher realm, and are enabled patiently to endure.

III. BY THIS PATIENT WAITING GOD IS GLORIFIED AND SERVED . The thought of service to God is too often restricted to active endeavour . It is overlooked that he may be nerved by us passively as well as actively; by quiet resignation to his will as well as by open and earnest toil in seeking the good of others. "They also serve who only stand and wait." Great was the service rendered by the Man Christ Jesus as he traversed the cities and villages of Palestine, going about doing good, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God; but yet higher service was rendered by him as with holy resignation he acquiesced in the great Father's will and "endured the cross, despising the shame."

IV. THIS WAITING FOR THE LORD SHALL IN NO WISE LOSE ITS REWARD . There shall be ultimate deliverance; salvation shall come, and the thankful acknowledgment shall be, "Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he hath saved us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will evermore be glad and rejoice in his salvation" ( Isaiah 25:9 ).