Texts:

Psalm 95

Micah 7:8-20

Mark 14:26-31

The words of Micah are a beautiful reminder that, though we might be found to be false, God is true:

"Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy;

when I fall, I shall rise;

when I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me.

I must bear the indignation of the LORD, because I have sinned against him,

until he takes my side

and executes justice for me.

He will bring me out to the light;

I shall see his vindication.

Then my enemy will see,

and shame will cover her who said to me,

"Where is the LORD your God?"

My eyes will see her downfall;

now she will be trodden down like the mire of the streets."

It is tempting to read these verses as a simple prayer of vindication over one's enemies, as victory over the ones whom we don't like or over the ones with whom we disagree.  But these are not the most insidious of threats to our happiness and well-being.  As Martin Luther states in a letter to Philip Melanchthon, "I beg you, who are so pugnacious in everything else, fight against yourself, your own worst enemy, for you furnish Satan with too many weapons against yourself... even if weshould ourselves be destroyed, let it not be by our own hands," (Theodore Tappert, Martin Luther: Letters of Spiritual Counsel, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The Westminster Press, 1955, 147).  This makes me wonder whether it might benefit us to think of the end of Micah as a reference to ourselves and to the half-truths we believe, destroying ourselves from within.

Do not rejoice over me, O scars from my past.

When I fall, I shall be raised up.

When I sit in darkness, God will be my light.

I must bear the indignation of the LORD, 

because I have not believed his words are true.

He remains at my side, nonetheless,

Showing me the sufficiency of his righteousness.

Then I will rise,

And I will understand who God has created me to be.

All the times I raised my fist to accuse You of not being there,

I will see that it was me who had struck out, not wanting grace or mercy.

My eyes will see the old pass away,

And I will see myself as God sees me,

Resting in the arms of God's mercy.