Restoration

Micah 4: 6 – 8

In that day,” declares the Lord,

“I will gather the lame;
I will assemble the exiles
and those I have brought to grief.
I will make the lame my remnant,
those driven away a strong nation.
The Lord will rule over them in Mount Zion
from that day and forever.
As for you, watchtower of the flock,
stronghold[
a] of Daughter Zion,
the former dominion will be restored to you;
kingship will come to Daughter Jerusalem.”

The so called Minor Prophets, although there is nothing minor about them, were not on the whole the most cheerful of company. Amos, Joel, Obadiah, Habakkuk not to mention Jonah did tend to be foretellers of doom, although most of them did manage to see that God’s anger would not last for ever, and eventually restoration would come.

For Micah (?) the restoration comes earlier in his prophecy.  Here in chapter 4 (of 7) he tells of how God will bring all back to Israel, and what is more Jerusalem will be restored to her former glory, and God himself will rule from Zion’s hilltop.

Dreams and visions of glory to come; just what a people need when it seems they have lost everything including hope, but with God nothing is hopeless and nothing is irredeemable .

That is why these are not minor prophets.  Their visions are every bit as great as Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. What is more, they convey a message of hope to us today, as much as they did to their own people 28 centuries ago.

Prayer

Lord God, our loving Father in Heaven, we recall you will never desert us and so we have hope. In times of uncertainty that is perhaps your greatest gift to us, that we can hope.  Hope for better times, hope for a resolution of our problems, and hope for the restoration of the good times.

Help us to worship you at all times, so we may truly enjoy the good times that await us.

In your Mercy hear our prayer,

Amen