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.
Micah 7:18 NIV
It takes personal experience for anyone to speak the words of today's extract. You must have encountered different lords and masters to come to the conclusions in today's extract. There are gods, and there is a God. What makes this God different from other gods? First, it is about his power. No other god can claim to be able to pardon sin, but the God introduced to us here is able to do so. How does that work? The value of what this God can do is seen in the gift of his son that he freely gave. Sin was the problem of all men, and no god could provide a way of escape from the consequences of sin until Jesus was revealed. In and through Jesus, man now has a way of escape from sin.
Secondly, even if he could forgive sin, he still had to make a way for sinful man to be able to take advantage of the gift on offer. Of what use would it have been if man needed help but had no way to access the help? God is a holy God, who makes it clear that without holiness, no man shall see the Lord. It does not matter what else you are able to achieve in life; if you do not approach the Holy God the way he can be reached, it would have been a wasted life.
On those two points above lie a very important point: God will always punish sin, no matter in whom it is found. He does not have favourites when it comes to sin, and the closer I get to God, the more careful I have to be. I read from today's extract that there is a remnant of God's inheritance and the picture I see is of a God who dealt with his own people due to sin. He did not spare them because they were his own. He allowed them to go on exile; some were killed; some never returned to the land of promise. It did not change who God was, but Israel could not forget its experience of God. As I live my life from day to day, it is also a lesson I must learn: sin will destroy a life.
Thirdly, God's love is such that he does not let go. Even when there is sin, God's love does not change in nature, intensity and universal availability. He is angry at sin, which is his nature, but he is also quick to show mercy, which is also his nature. This is the dilemma: which side is more prominent? Can I dare take God for granted, claiming his mercy while wallowing in sin? Can I fear God's punishment for sin so much that I cannot embrace his mercy? God is the Judge of all men, giving to each his due, but he is also the Merciful One, showing compassion to all, helping man live up to his standards. I must not take any part of this God for granted, but see him as the complete God that he is. It is that completeness that made Micah here speak these words.
It was not just a testimony to Micah the speaker here, but to all the nations around that had seen God's dealings with Israel. I must not think I am exempt from God's standard simply because I am being used by him. After all, God will honour his name but wow betide the vessel that is only used on earth and has no value in eternity. God deals with me this way so that the whole world will hear my story and learn. I will also hear about other people's stories and also learn from them: God is a God of mercy, but he is also a God of judgement. I cannot pick and choose that which makes me comfortable; the matter of eternity is such that I must settle where I stand and who I serve now before it starts. It will be too late in eternity if I failed to take advantage of all that God is and offers me now. His time of favour is here.
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