Who is like our God? Saturday, 2nd week of Lent – Micah 7:14-15,18-20/ Luke 15:1-3,11-32

Read also https://www.pottypadre.com/prodigal-son-2/ based on the Gospel of today.

In the final recorded words of the prophet Micah, we read his prayer to the Lord. In it, Micah asks the Lord to be the Shepherd of His people and care for them.

The Babylonian invasion was no longer a threat, it was imminent and the people who allowed themselves to be swayed by bad shepherd’s now had more than just a fractured relationship with God. There was a time when God’s people enjoyed a close relationship with Him. The prophet prays that God’s people will be brought back to the place they belong and the relationship which was in tatters will be restored. Micah was praying past the circumstances for a closer relationship with the shepherd and hoped it would result in great wonders in their life

Micah whose name means “who is like God” now uses his very name in verse 18 to extol God and to glorify him. He asks, “who is like our God”? The simple and most accurate answer is…No one! Micah glorifies God for his great forgiveness. He has pardoned sin and will pass over the transgressions of the remnant that will emerge from exile. Micah saw that God’s forgiveness was so great, that it can’t even be compared to what often passes for forgiveness among men.

Why does God have such great mercy and forgiveness to His people? The reasons are in Him, not in His people. It is simply because He delights in mercy. So, one is bound to ask that If God delights in mercy, then why are some men lost? God opens His hand of mercy to all who will receive it, but those who will not receive His mercy can blame only themselves.

Even so, some may ask; If God delights in mercy, then why is He not always, on every occasion merciful? Because there comes a time when the guilty must be punished. God’s judgments are in themselves expressions of mercy because they are like the cutting away of cancer. The surgery hurts but it must take place or the whole body will die.

We are also told of Gods compassion (verse 19). His compassion is shown when he treads our sins and casts our sins into the depths of the sea. This means there is no probation with God’s forgiveness. He doesn’t forgive our sins just to leave them around to hang over our head. In His compassion, He does away with our sins, casting them to the depths of the sea and then He puts a “No Fishing” sign there! He loves us as sinners but loves us too much to leave us in our sin. His compassion saves us from our sin.

– Do leave your comment or your reflections on this passage