Read: Micah 7:18-20
18 Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. 19 He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. 20 You will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old.
As a child, our family always took a summer vacation. For two weeks in July or August, we piled into our green Ford station wagon and hit the road. My dad would usually try to drive all night so the kids would sleep and not be antsy, but there was always a part of the drive during daylight hours.
I remember looking at the highway and seeing shimmering pools of water ahead. Yet, when we got there the water had magically evaporated. How did that happen? Finally, I asked my parents where the pools went. When they finally understood what I was talking about, they explained the concept of a “mirage” – an optical illusion that made it look like there was water on a hot road, but wasn’t really there. It was actually caused by the refraction of light from the sky by heated air.
Sin is a mirage. It isn’t caused by light and heated air, but it is an illusion. It gives the appearance of being beautiful and fun and just what we want or need, but it kills and robs and destroys.
Time and time again, the people of Israel ran after false gods. No matter how many times God rescued them; no matter how many times God delivered them; they kept running after false gods. The allure of the shiny, shimmering sin seems so inviting, yet never truly satisfies.
“Who is a God like you?” It is a question that expects the answer, “No one!” There is no one who comes close to the true God. There is no one who can match his perfect, holy character; no one who can match his power and the magnificent deeds he has done; no one who keeps his promises always. The more we know God, the more we should trust him. The better we know God’s promises, the more we see God’s faithfulness, the more peace we have when things go sideways.
Micah’s message to Israel came at a time when everything appeared hopeless from a human perspective. Yet, Micah trusted the God who pardons iniquity and passes over trespasses. He had hope in a God who does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love; who will again have compassion on us.
During Lent, as we take time to reflect on our lives and allow the Holy Spirit to show us areas where we’ve pursued the mirage of sin and missed the real thing God has for us, we have to take responsibility. We can’t just bury our sin or sweep it under the rug and pretend like it’s not there. We have to repent – to call sin what it is, ask God’s forgiveness, thank him that in Jesus we have it, and ask for the grace to live rightly.
John wrote, 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The blood of Jesus has purchased our forgiveness. When we confess our sin and ask forgiveness, he promises we have it!
In fact, in verse
19 we read, he will tread our iniquities underfoot.
You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. Jesus “treads”
on our sins. He subdues them. He conquers them. It no longer has power over us.
He casts them into the depths of the sea.
Walter Kaiser writes,:
The last three verses of this book (Micah 7:18-20) are linked with the book of Jonah for the afternoon reading in the synagogue on Yom Kipper, the “Day of Atonement.” Once every year, on Ros Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, the orthodox Jew goes to a stream or river and symbolically empties his sins from his pockets into the water as he recites Micah 7:18–20. This is the Tashlich service, named after the word “You will cast.” (shalak) It symbolizes the fact that God can and will take our sins, wash them down the streams of running water and bury them deep in the depths of the ocean. God not only forgives our sins; He also forgets them. If some object that God cannot forget our sins if He is omniscient, let it be remembered that what He does when He forgets our sins is remember them against us no more.
God loves us. He longs to have our relationship with him restored to the intimacy it was intended to have. The blood of Jesus brings the forgiveness and the forgetfulness we need to be able to start each day – and many times each day – afresh. As John also wrote, 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7).
Sin is a mirage. It looks shiny and satisfying but is empty and harsh. Though our sin be great; God’s love is greater! Who is like our God? No one!
Take time to reflect:
Do you ever feel like you aren’t good enough for God? Do you feel like you’re trapped in sin and defeated in a never-ending pattern?
Take time to think about the things we learn about God in these verses. He is a God who:
- Pardons
- Passes over my weaknesses
- Withholds His anger
- Shows mercy
- Demonstrates compassion
- Conquered the power of sin
- Casts my sin into the depths of the sea
As you look at that list, which speaks the most to you today? Take time to talk to God about it, giving thanks and asking him to help you draw closer to him!