“Therefore I will look unto the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me.” 

Micah 7:7 KJV

The Prophet Micah lived in dark times. The nation of Judah was in great apostasy.  One of the nation’s most wicked kings, King Ahaz, sat on the throne. Ahaz reigned from 735 BC  to 715 BC.  Evil and wickedness were the norm in the culture.  Every strata of society was infected with it.

But in the midst of it all, there was a voice and a remnant of people who still loved, served, and followed the Lord.  Micah was one of those voices. Although he could see the judgment of God coming on the nation and the difficult times that would come as a result, he chose to focus his attention upon the Lord.  He did not ignore the darkness. But his primary focus was upon the Light! 

We live in dark times in America. We can see and feel the darkness enveloping our land.  Like the days of Micah, there are those who seek to silence the voice of righteousness. But the Lord did not place us here during these times to be silent. He placed us here to be His voice and a reflection of His Light in the midst of the darkness. 

The key to maintaining our joy and hope in the midst of the darkness is to “look to the Lord.”  He is our Light and our Hope!   By riveting our focus upon Him we can see beyond the darkness!  We can see the King and His Kingdom!  We can see His Hand at work in the midst of everything else that is happening. One glimpse of Him puts everything else in perspective. Although the majority of the culture embraces the darkness, we can still rejoice as we embrace the Light!  For there is absolutely nothing that the darkness can do to extinguish the Light!  (John 1:5). Therefore, we can live with our eyes fixed on Jesus.  And because of that, we can have absolute hope and confidence in the midst of everything for we know how the story ends! 

Rev. James W. Black