Micah 7:5,6

There will be failure in the nation’s social relationships. It will happen soon. Isaiah describes these events well (Isaiah 3:4-5). Micah gives a list of the different relationships in society. They are between neighbours and friends. They are between husbands, wives and children. You can expect arguments with neighbours and friends. You can expect to have troubles there. But sometimes it happens in the family. Then it is difficult to know what to do. You do not know where to go for help.

Soon the *Assyrians will attack Jerusalem. There will be awful terror. There will be little food. Life will become extremely difficult. Each person will make his or her own plans. Relationships between people will break down. A husband will make plans to try to protect himself. But even his wife will not know his plans. He will hide them from her. If she discovered the plans, she would use the information for her own advantage. She would use it to save herself. That is what the husband would be afraid of. The important thing for each person would be to stay alive. Nobody would care about anyone else.

Those events will greatly affect the relationships in marriages and families. These relationships are between husbands and wives. They are between sons and fathers. They are relationships between daughters and mothers. They are between daughters and their husbands’ mothers. Each person will become an enemy against the other person. Each person will have only one thought in mind. That is to stay alive.

These things will happen between members of families. Each person will care chiefly about how to save his or her life. When Jesus came, it brought the same difficulties (Matthew 10:35-39; Luke 12:53). Jesus’ statement was true about any person who became his companion and friend. A member of that person’s own family might actually become his or her enemy.

Micah was describing the troubles in a nation because of a terrible war. But we can see similar troubles even in countries where there is no war. In modern society, law and government have failed in many ways. The things that Micah taught are also true today. Sons hate their fathers. Daughters have quarrels with their mothers. Daughters quarrel with their husbands’ mothers. A husband may not be successful in his marriage. He may be unkind to his wife. Then his wife may blame his mother for those things. She may say that his mother trained him badly in his childhood. She blames his mother for his behaviour. Many failures in marriage are the result of such arguments. They can happen thousands of times in a nation. The results are terrible.

The nation’s *sin caused troubles in people’s families. That was true at the time when Micah was alive. And it is the same today. There are problems in marriage. Husbands and wives do not remain loyal to each other. The result is often divorce. Each person may then have another marriage. This affects the children that are born in the marriages. The children do not feel safe. Sometimes this affects their behaviour. Divorce causes social problems. And it causes economic problems.

Micah writes about an earlier time. Religion caused little difference in the way that people lived at that time. Micah told the people what God expected from them. Micah told them to be fair. He told them to be kind. Micah told the people to be humble (Micah 6:8). God wants Christians to behave in the same way today. Society is similar today to how it was in that earlier time. Rulers and people alike deal badly with other people. People do not forgive each other for their faults. People are proud. They are selfish. Their wrong moral behaviour has a huge effect on the nation’s social relationships and economic business. But if we are Christians, we should live humbly. And we should trust God all the time. We need to live by God’s rules. Then our lives can start to benefit our homes, our society and even our world.

Governments look for answers to those problems. They have many political solutions. Micah speaks to us about the true answer. ‘People, the *LORD told you what goodness is. This is what the *LORD wants you to do. Be fair to other people. Love kindness. Live humbly with your God.’ (Micah 6:8). God has given to us his rules about good behaviour. He has told us how to live. Most people seem to have made a wrong choice. They have decided that they do not need God. They think that they do not need to obey his rules. They think that they can do better than God. Everywhere we see the results of their philosophy. There is confusion and fear in every village, town and city.

v7 But in my case, I watch because I hope for the *LORD. I will wait for God to save me. My God will hear me.