Bible 1611 - The Day of Dishonor

The Book of Micah

by Richard St.James

The Day of Dishonor

Micah 7:5 “Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide: keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom.
6 For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother in law; a man's enemies are the men of his own house.”

1. Friends Fail
2. Guides Lie
3. Mutiny Prevails

1. Friends Fail

Verse five a: “Trust ye not in a friend, …”

Is this not this an extreme thing to hear from the prophet? Then, who can we turn to in the time of need? Good question.

A friend is defined in the Bible as one who is “as thine own soul.” [See Deuteronomy 13:6] A friend is one who sticks “closer than a brother”. Proverbs chapter eighteen, verse twenty-four: “A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.” [Proverbs 18:24] It is a true friend that will stick with you through thick and thin while he, or she, is building you up. This building up is otherwise called sharpening you up.

In the Bible this mutual sharpening process is perfectly described in the book of Proverbs in chapter twenty-seven, verse seventeen, as this: “Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.” [Proverbs 27:17]

Now, there is something else to consider about a friend. There are people in our lives that we “use” as our friends. We “use” one another! Does this surprise you? It shouldn’t. We “use” certain of others around us as our friends.

For example, this certainly was the true in Samson’s life. Do you remember what was said concerning Samson’s companion, which thing is found in Judges fourteen, twenty? Samson’s companion was “used as his friend.” Let me read it to you. “But Samson's wife was given to his companion, whom he had used as his friend.” [Judges 14:20]

Now, understand this. Samson’s friend was no real friend at all, which matches the old adage, that with a friend like that, who needs an enemy? Therefore, a person USED as a friend may, in fact, be no real friend at all to you. Even a “familiar” friend may in the end … lift the heel against you. See Psalm chapter forty-one, verse nine: “Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.” [Psalm 41:9]

Now consider Job. These are the same kind of friends that Job had for friends as shown in Job chapter six, verse twenty-seven: “Yea, ye overwhelm the fatherless, and ye dig a pit for your friend.” [Job 6:27]

2. Guides Lie

Verse five b: “… put ye not confidence in a guide:”

Is not this this strange thing what the prophet is telling us not to do? Micah is saying: “… put ye not confidence in a guide:”

Now, let me digress here? Who is the guide in your life? Who is it that you can trust? In the end every one of us will need to come to the very same conclusion. It is God! He knows are our very frame! It is the Spirit of God [Who is inside the believer in Jesus Christ] that will bring you into line with what HE is written through David … in Psalm forty-eight, verse fourteen: “For this God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death.” [Psalm 48:14] God promises those … who put their trust in Him … to guide them from their very birth to their very death. Amen!

[But here is the big BUT.]

“But” not everyone trusts in God, and not everyone has Him for their guide! So we are left with this general promise to all men everywhere.

It is this. In the absence of a personal trust in God by any individual, there can be a trust placed by this person in the guidance offered by the many. This mode of guidance has worked in the times past, but the times have changed!

In the time past, which now can be described as a time before this present visitation of God [of judgment], we enjoyed the general safety that comes to any people from the guidance offered from “the multitude of counsellers”. This is in the book of Proverbs chapter eleven, verse fourteen: “Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellers there is safety.” [Proverbs 11:14] This is the general rule as promised to us [to all men, everywhere].

But now with the visitation, [now upon us], our counsel has failed. The guide has failed. The guidance has gone totally bad. With that, our enemy wins and we are defeated. It is for us, what happened to the soul found in Psalm chapter fifty-five, verses twelve thru fourteen: “For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it: neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; then I would have hid myself from him: But it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company.” [Psalm 55:12-14]

We are now living in a time when we ought not place any confidence in a guide “ … put ye not confidence in a guide:”

3. Mutiny Prevails

Verse six: “For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother in law; a man's enemies are the men of his own house.”

This is a very sad scene. Even in the family there is no trust. See our mothers and our fathers sinking down. The families are breaking down. We see the son against the father and we see the daughter against her mother … all across our land in the DAY of the VISITATION.

The DAY of VISITATION will be a day of suspicion, and for good reason. This visitation is called the judgment of God. The visitation indeed has come. It is the solitary person who is the one who is wise in this day. Why? Look all around you, and see all the human casualties in this day, which everywhere abound. Their wounds are … in their backs. These are the wounds that come from being “stabbed in the back” by their friends and their guides.

Friends will fail us ... in this day. The guides in our lives will lie to us ... in this day, and mutiny will prevail all around us ... in this day.

How tragic!!!

Do you cry out for a solution???

There is a solution.

Here is the solution!

It is Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

He will be a friend that will never fail you!

He will be a friend that will stick closer to you than a brother!

He will be a faithful guide … who will lead you to your right end! Amen!

“But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:” [John 1:12]

Which Light?

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Micah

Micah 7:1 Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grapegleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat: my soul desired the firstripe fruit.

Micah 7:2 The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none
upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net.

Micah 7:3 That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, the prince
asketh, and the judge asketh for a reward; and the great man, he uttereth his mischievous desire: so they wrap it up.

Micah 7:4 The best of them is as a brier: the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge: the day of thy watchmen and thy visitation cometh; now shall be their perplexity.

Micah 7:5 Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide: keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom.

Micah 7:6 For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up
against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother in law; a man's enemies are the men of his own house.

Micah 7:7 Therefore I will look unto the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me.

Micah 7:8 Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me.

Micah 7:9 I will bear the indignation of the LORD, because I have sinned
against him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgment for me: he will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness.

Micah 7:10 Then she that is mine enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover her which said unto me, Where is the LORD thy God? mine eyes shall behold her: now shall she be trodden down as the mire of the streets.

Micah 7:11 In the day that thy walls are to be built, in that day shall the
decree be far removed.

Micah 7:12 In that day also he shall come even to thee from Assyria, and from the fortified cities, and from the fortress even to the river, and from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain.

Micah 7:13 Notwithstanding the land shall be desolate because of them that dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings.

Micah 7:14 Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thine heritage, which dwell solitarily in the wood, in the midst of Carmel: let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.

Micah 7:15 According to the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt will I show unto him marvellous things.

Micah 7:16 The nations shall see and be confounded at all their might: they shall lay their hand upon their mouth, their ears shall be deaf.

Micah 7:17 They shall lick the dust like a serpent, they shall move out of
their holes like worms of the earth: they shall be afraid of the LORD our God, and shall fear because of thee.

Micah 7:18 Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.

Micah 7:19 He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will
subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of
the sea.

Micah 7:20 Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.