The longer we stay in Darkness

Micah 7:1-7

America’s Moral decline is not a new thing and from this writer’s viewpoint it did not begin in the 60’s, no we have been in a moral decline much longer than we can grasp.  It reminds me of my first missionary trip as a new believer in Christ, and our mission was to the interior of Mexico, with pastor Joe and my first mentor, Jack Archer.  In that I did not speak Spanish and most of them did not speak English, I was more in the role of observer, but as an observer it was clear that these people who lived in cardboard shacks, knew and loved the Lord Jesus Christ in ways that I had no understanding of at that point in my new faith. 

But that was only a very small part of the lesson that the Lord had prepared for me on that visit, in fact, the most important part of the lesson came later in a café/bar in Matamoras, Mexico.  When we arrived at the café/bar it was about 4 pm and the sun was full and bright and upon entering the café/bar it was as if one had walked into a cave with no light source.  I recall following the waiter to a table and you could only see images of tables and chairs with people sitting in them, and yet in only a few moments our eyes had adjusted to the darkness and we saw a very large room with people sitting all around us.  Pastor Joe then used that illustration to make a lasting impression on me, he ask this question, when you came out of the bright light into the darkness of the café, did you have any knowledge that the room we entered was full of people?  My answer was a simple no, and this was his reply; that darkness is an example of sin, when we as a people first enter into it we come out of the light and the darkness is overwhelming, but the longer we stay in the darkness it becomes less and less dark, it may even become enjoyable.

I believe the United States of America has experienced the darkness and it has become acceptable, in fact, the enemy has set up diversity training so that as a nation we have accepted whatever the world is promoting, and the experience for many of us in the Christian faith is to feel as Micah has stated in chapter 7:1-3, “How sad for me!  For I am like one who—when the summer fruit has been gathered after the gleaning of the grape harvest—finds no grape cluster to eat, no early fig, which I crave.   Godly people have vanished from the land; there is no one upright among the people.  All of them wait in ambush to shed blood; they hunt each other with a net.  Both hands are good at accomplishing evil: the official and the judge demand a bribe; when the powerful man communicates his evil desire, they plot it together.”

And though much of what Micah was experiencing was factual, because the majority of leaders, priest, and prophets in Israel were corrupt, godly people had not vanished from the earth, there were others who shared his spiritual convictions; such men as his contemporary Isaiah.  But his feeling of being alone was not incorrect, in that all around him the people of God who had forsaken the standards of God, had set up standards that made them feel good about sin. 

Micah comes to this understanding, that he should not put trust in a man, not his close neighbor, or even a member of his own house; that only one person is worthy of faith and that is God.  Listen to verse seven, “But I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation.  My God will hear me.”  We should never forget the account of the prophet Elijah pleading with God against Israel, picking up the account in Romans 11:3-5,  “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.” But what is God's reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace.”

           

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

http://fromourbackporch.blogspot.com/