Gum
in Your Ears Or Gummed Up Works
Micah 6:1 "Hear ye now what the Lord
saith; Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and
let the hills hear thy voice.
2 Hear ye, O
mountains, the Lord's controversy, and ye strong
foundations of the earth: for the Lord hath a
controversy with his people, and he will plead with
Israel.
3 O my people, what have I done unto
thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify
against me."
1. Stopped Ears
2. Stopped Mouths
3. What Can You Do?
1. Stopped Ears
Verse one: “Hear ye now what the Lord saith; Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice.”
First and foremost, the problem is hearing. Judah has a hearing problem.
Their ears are stopped up and totally blocked to the hearing of God’s word.
Their ears are, you might say, gummed up. Israel had long since stopped their ears from the hearing God’s of words from the mouths of the prophets.
It is as it says it is the book of Zechariah chapter seven, verse eleven: “But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear.” [Zechariah 7:11]
Now fast-forward five hundred years. This was still the same problem with the Jews in Stephen’s day [according to the book of Acts chapter seven]: “Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord,” [Acts 7:57].
Though their ears, and though our ears, be stopped, God will still plead with us to give answer … to the mountains and to the hills.
Why is this so? It is so … because God is “longsuffering” toward us. God is not willing that any should perish. This what it says in Second Peter chapter three, verse nine: “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” [2 Peter 3:9]
For Judah, as well as for us, there is a time to stand up and give argument. But I have a warning for you. Do not argue with Him direct but instead … give your argument to the mountains and to the hills. “Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice.” [Psalm 119:126]
Do you not see how this matches with what we have here in verse one?
Now, something else must be understood. Whether or not our ears are stopped [or gummed up] God’s word in the end will have its desired effect. It will not return void back to God. Remember what the prophet Isaiah said [in Isaiah chapter fifty-five, verse eleven]: “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” [Isaiah 55:11]
2. Stopped Mouths
Verse two: “Hear ye, O mountains, the Lord's controversy, and ye strong foundations of the earth: for the Lord hath a controversy with his people, and he will plead with Israel.”
Now, hear me! Do not wait until it is time for you to stand before God to give an account in answer to God. Remember Job’s situation in Job chapter thirty-eight: “Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.” [Job 38:1-3]
Job could not answer. He realized that there is answer from man that is to be made to God. God said, shut your mouth and listen to me, and indeed, every mouth must be stopped!
Now, isn’t this in fact what the Spirit of God says to us in Romans chapter three, verse nineteen? “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.” [Romans 3:19]
All mouths must be stopped!
In the book of Titus is the same language: “Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake.” [Titus 1:11]
All the mouths shall be stopped.
In Psalms sixty-three, verse eleven, we have this: “But the king shall rejoice in God; every one that sweareth by him shall glory: but the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped.” [Psalm 63:11]
All the mouths shall be stopped.
One eventful day after the millennial reign of Jesus Christ, all the dead will be raised to attend the judgment and not one of their mouths will open. They [the unsaved] will have nothing to say that will hold any water at all in that day. “And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.” [Revelation 20:12]
Their mouths will be stopped!
Now, back to Judah, God has a controversy with His people [Judah].
Notice something here. God takes His controversy with the people to the very mountains which form the foundations of this earth … and God does this through His prophets. The BOOK shows us this very thing in the book of Ezekiel in chapter thirty-six. Verse one: “Also, thou son of man, prophesy unto the mountains of Israel, and say, Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord:” [Ezekiel 36:1] The mountains are commanded … to “hear”.
Now, see this in chapter six, verse three: “And say, Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God; Thus saith the Lord God to the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys; Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places.” [Ezekiel 6:3]
Notice now, in a different time … with a change of events … these same mountains that would experience judgment now, will then experience joy … according to the prophet Isaiah.
Read with me in Isaiah chapter forty-four, verse twenty-three: “Sing, O ye heavens; for the Lord hath done it: shout, ye lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein: for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel.” [Isaiah 44:23]
So whether in judgment, or in the victory, the heavens and the earth will both hear God, and at the same time, hearken to God which thing is more than can be said of men. “Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the Lord hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted.” [Isaiah 49:13]
What does this tell us?
It tells us this: these mountains are more willing to listen to HIM than His people are willing to listen to HIM.
This thing is sad, but this thing is also true. The mountains are not only willing to listen to God but the mountains are also willing to sing to HIM WHO is the Creator.
3. What Can You Do?
Verse three: “O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me.”
Do you have any complaints with God?
Now, before you answer this question I want to caution you. You need to consider another question placed by the Holy Spirit which is located in the book of Isaiah chapter forty verse twelve: “Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?” [Isaiah 40:12]
Has God done you wrong in any way? Have the bad things that have happened to you … come to you because God did it to you? If the things that have happened to you are bad, did they come to you because God failed you, or did they come to you because of your failure to obey God? Think on it now.
In Judah’s case, [here in the book of Micah] did all the evils and troubles that they were experiencing come to them because the people of God were doing right before God? Or were their troubles of their own doing? Gum in their ears ended up gumming their works.
Now, what about us?
Are the all the troubles and all the evils that we are experiencing today coming because we are living for Jesus Christ [and suffering because we are] or these evils and troubles coming because we have walked away from our Savior and Lord?
You need to ask yourself this question. [1 Peter 4:14-16]
Jesus Christ is asking you and me both this
question: “what have I done unto thee? and
wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me.”
The gum in your ears … will end up
gumming your works!