The Day of Your Watchman Has Come – Micah 7:1-7

In January 2018 the alarm in Hawaii rang out for a nuclear attack from North Korea.  It was a false alarm.  But everyone there thought the “day of [their] watchmen” had come and disaster was imminent. Whether they viewed this day as punishment or not, it was definitely a day of confusion and terror.

Woe is me! For I have become as when the summer fruit has been gathered, as when the grapes have been gleaned:  there is no cluster to eat, no first-ripe fig that my soul desires.  2 The godly has perished from the earth, and there is no one upright among mankind; they all lie in wait for blood, and each hunts the other with a net.  3 Their hands are on what is evil, to do it well; the prince and the judge ask for a bribe, and the great man utters the evil desire of his soul; thus they weave it together.  4 The best of them is like a brier, the most upright of them a thorn hedge.  The day of your watchmen, of your punishment, has come; now their confusion is at hand.  5 Put no trust in a neighbor; have no confidence in a friend; guard the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your arms; 6 for the son treats the father with contempt, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own house.  7 But as for me, I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.  (Micah 7:1-7)

Micah has returned to mourning over the judgment come upon his people and is telling them the day of their watchmen has come.  He feels alone among a people who will not follow the Lord.  Even family loyalties have broken down and there is nowhere to turn except to God.

Here is what every believer in our land must settle on:  “I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.”  We will not look to politicians for salvation.  We will not look to our survival instincts.  We will not even depend on our families for rescue.  Our every hope will be in the God of our salvation.

And we will find ourselves in much prayer as we mourn the loss of real prosperity in our country, the kind that is not measured in dollar signs.  Real prosperity is found in the joy of God’s rich bounty of food, in a brotherhood of community that does not take advantage of each other but cares for each other, and in leadership that is not a thorny hedge but a fruitful vine.

I was talking with a friend yesterday about politics, a dangerous conversation for friendship these days.  I was struck by his remark that the moral compass of the politician who lost the election was missing and that the politician who won was also absent a moral compass, but at least God was using the winning politician to accomplish His purposes.  But if it is true that there is no one to lead us except those without moral compasses, the day of our watchmen and of our punishment has come.