NOTES for Мих 7:1-20
What can a person do when there is nothing but sin all around? Rebuke it? And what if the person rebukes it but no one listens? “Wash one’s hands” of it? Here is what the prophet Micah does: he... prays for his people. There is no longer any hope that the people will repent and turn to God, but there is always hope in God Himself. “But as for me, I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.” The prophet asks God to manifest His will by becoming the shepherd of the people, and in this request he relies on confidence in God’s mercy. “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 mercy.” As an answer to his prayer, Micah foresees the coming deliverance from sin: “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.” Of course, it is the Lord who saves, but if no one prays, there is no one to be saved!