God's incomparable deeds

Step 4 of “Praise Our Incomparable God” focuses on God’s deeds promised in Micah 7:14-17. The LORD will work wondrous deeds as He shepherds Judah. The Babylonians will watch this in awe, speechless, powerless and afraid.

Hampton Road Baptist Church posted its lesson plan for “Praise Our Incomparable God”. I've reproduce it below since their link content changes each week. After riding out the backside of hurricane Rita lst year, I can somewhat relate to the plan's suggested introduction.

Supplemental Teaching Plan
May 28, Praise Our Incomparable God

Background Passage: Micah 1:1-7:20

Lesson Focal Passage: Micah 7:8-20

Introduction

The study today encompasses the entire book of Micah. Although at first glance it may not look as if it is a single unit of prophecy, upon closer study it may be seen in this way. Micah prophesied during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. Micah’s prophecy revolves around Israel’s wickedness and subsequent exile in Babylon. The last thirteen verses of chapter 7, while still acknowledging Judah’s sin and impending punishment, promises a restoration of Israel’s fortunes. This is not the result of anything the people could do to earn God’s forgiveness, but because of His incomparable love and grace.

Ask, “Have any of you ever waited out a hurricane?” Hurricanes are among the most frightening events you can endure. Not only do the winds seem capable of destroying your home at any time, but you often lose power, running water, and even contact with the outside world. If that is not enough, they spawn many tornadoes. If you are fortunate enough to have a weather radio, you hear reports almost moment by moment of the destruction going on all around you. Yet when the hurricane passes completely by, it is followed by some of the calmest and most beautiful weather you can imagine. Say, “That is, on a small scale, what this passage of Scripture promises.” God assures the faithful remnant that, while they cannot earn reconciliation with Him—it is possible only through His grace. Their suffering and punishment will be only for a finite period. God will restore them because of His undying love for them. When the hurricane passes, calm sets in!

Open the class in prayer.

Micah 7:8-9:

Sin results in punishment. Why? Because God wants to show us who is boss? No! God is boss and He already knows that. He is comfortable with who He is and does not need to prove it to anyone, least of all us. God’s punishment is designed to teach us, to redeem us, and to enable us to see the course of action we need to take. This, in turn, frees Him from having to prove Himself. He can dispense grace—unmerited favor—without having to worry if we will respect Him or not. Because of that, we may, as Micah says of the people living in Jerusalem in the sixth century B. C., have to endure Hs rage when we sin against Him. However, we also have the assurance that He will establish justice for us, bring us into the light, and show us His salvation (verse 9). Even in the midst of the darkness of despair (verse 8), that light is shining just beyond the horizon. Let not those who see us encountering God’s chastisement misunderstand. God still loves us and will lift us up! We call these valley and mountaintop experiences. We love the mountaintop experiences, but were it not for the valleys; we might not appreciate those mountaintops.
Micah 7:10

This verse speaks to the sufficiency of God. It is God’s actions, not ours, that prove His power and glory. It is the love He has for us—our restoration after a failure—that heaps shame on our adversaries. It is not up to me to say, “I told you so.” God will triumph over those who mistreat us; it is not for us to retaliate. This is not an easy lesson to learn or to hold on to. When someone does me wrong, I want them to pay when I am exonerated. In fact, I want to be the vehicle of justice in that case. Unfortunately, God does not see it that way. He is our protector and the one who establishes justice for us (verse 9).

There is another point here, too. We are not the only ones who see God working in our lives. Those around us, many times who do not have a relationship with Jesus Christ, see how we react to those who would do us wrong, and they see if we really believe God can take care of us. What kind of message do our responses send?

Micah 7:11-13

The promise of these verses is the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem and the return of exiles from throughout the world, walls that had not yet fallen. The inclusion of Assyria and Egypt among the nations from which exiles will return is a reference to the northern tribes. In other words, Jerusalem will become a refuge not only to returning exiles from Judah, but from Ephraim as well. This return would mark the end of the power of the nations that had taken Israelites and Jews into captivity. The size and the prestige of Jerusalem would be enlarged as God began to use His chosen people and their capital city to reach out to all the nations of the earth. As a point of fact, this prophecy was fulfilled in the Maccabeean revolt which threw off the influence of the Greek and Persian rulers.

God promises us the same things in our Christian walk. Although there may be times of chastisement when we, as God’s people, sin; if we are faithful to repent of our sins and turn to Him, we will be restored. True repentance—and true restoration—results in the glorification of God’s name and an extension of His kingdom. God, in turn, deals with those who oppose us and will, if we trust Him, extend our ministry.

Micah 7:14-17

This is an answer to Micah’s prayer. God merely tells him to continue to shepherd God’s sheep. At the time, the people were dwelling in a wasteland, but that would not continue to be the case indefinitely. They WILL be restored. The land will again be fertile and the people will dwell in a close relationship with God as they had in Gilead and Bashan when they first approached the Promised Land after the Egyptian Exodus. Those nations that had troubled Israel would be brought low. Being forced out of hiding, they would grovel as snakes and tremble before the Lord. The imagery of this passage is indicative of things that would be familiar to the agrarian society to which Micah prophesied. Ask, “What kind of imagery might we use today? How might we restate this to speak to the city dwellers of 21st century America?” Allow some time for discussion. We might use terms like “you can run but you can’t hide” or “those people who treat Christians with contempt will be exposed for the cowards they really are.” The concepts are the same. Micah is not prophesying these things as literal events in the future of Israel as much as painting a mental or word picture to which the people would relate. When God is on our side, we don’t need to worry about the opposition—we outnumber them!

Micah 7:18-20:

The last three verses of this chapter place the entirety of Micah’s prophecy in perspective. God is awesome, glorious, and incomparable. Who else but God Himself can do what He does? Who else is willing to pay for our sinfulness Himself and overlook our rebelliousness? Who else, for the sake of saving a remnant for Himself is willing to let go of His anger and not hold a grudge? Who else, because of His own faithful love will have compassion on us, vanquish our trespasses and cast out our sins? God shows He is faithful even when we do not deserve it! All of these statements show that God loves us even when we are unlovable. While we often consider these things as part of the salvation process—God loved us while we were yet sinners, while we were in open rebellion against Him—they are also true of our ongoing walk with Him. I don’t know about you, but I’m not always lovable as a Christian. I know this is hard for most of you to imagine, but I can still be a stinker at times—ask Patsy! God continues to love us, forgive us, and restore us day after day and sin after sin. We stretch God’s love and compassion on a daily basis, but He continues to love us anyway. No one can compare to Him. I know I can’t! When someone treats me with far less contempt than I often show to my Lord, I have a hard time letting it go. Yet God continues to bear with me despite my many and varied shortcomings. Let us praise our incomparable God!

Conclusion

Give participants each a sheet of paper. Have them draw a line down the center of the page. On the left side, ask them to write: “Ways People Have Offended Me”. On the left hand side, ask them to write: “Ways I Offend God”. Have them each write three or four things on each side of the paper. Make sure they write the same number of items in each column (even if they can think of a lot more things to write in one column than the other). They should not share these items with those around them, not even with their spouses. Once they have written an equal number of items in each column, have them fold the paper where it cannot be seen and lay it aside. Voice a short prayer asking God to give participants the wisdom to see how they have failed God in the same ways others fail them. After closing the prayer have participants open their papers again. Say, “Look at your list again; but this time, reverse the headings. The ways others have offended you are, in most cases, exactly the ways you have sinned against God and, sadly, are the very things you are unwilling to forgive in others. Armed with this new perspective, let us pray as we leave today and in our quiet time this week that God will reveal those things for which we need to confess our sins against Him and for which we need to forgive others. Pick one pair (one on each side of the line) each day in your quiet time and ask God’s forgiveness and the ability to forgive the one against whom you hold this offense.

Close in prayer.