O my people, what have I done to you? How have I wearied you? Answer me! (Micah 6:3 ESV)
Fear Not… By Not Blaming God
When my guitar strings start to regularly go out of tune, I display an attitude much like the people that God is speaking to through Micah. I blame something else. I blame my out-of-tune strings on the weather, on poor craftmanship, on the effects of Adam’s Sin, and I might even suspect some vandal’s sneaky turning of the tuning keys while I was away.
But the strings usually go out of tune because I did not clean them, keep them tuned, or replace them at the right time.
And Micah’s audience was blaming God for the troubles in their lives. Because He is in charge, right?
But their economic woes were due to their breaking of God’s commandments.
The decay of their families was due to their breaking of God’s commandments.
The enemies ready to gather at their gates where there because God’s people had broken God’s commandments.
Yet this story is not primarily in the Bible to drive us to try harder to obey. Micah speaks to urge his listeners to take responsibility, yes… but more importantly to lovingly turn to God again, knowing that we need His grace and mercy.
If our help is on our shoulders, we’ll still be in trouble tomorrow. But if our help is in the hands of the Lord, then our hope is real.
When I ask, now, what actions we have done to cause our troubles, I ask for the same reason. Know your troubles, know your cause… and turn your eyes upon Jesus.
Fear not, then do not blame God.