The key to tackling disaster well (Mic 4:9-10)

In the Hollywood classic Gone with the Wind, the heroine Scarlett O’Hara faces challenges hard to bear. When troubles rise like so many questions, she says to herself, ‘I can’t think about this now. I’ll think about it tomorrow. Tomorrow is another day.’ While this is useful policy when doubts overwhelm us and we start worrying about all the what ifs well ahead of time, it is disastrous when tragedy strikes, and we refuse to face the issues it raises. Israel-Judah in Micah’s time have long pushed the problems away convinced that as God’s covenant people no disaster could touch them (Mic 3:11). When adversity will eventually hit, Micah foresees panic and disorientation (Mic 4:9).

Although Jerusalem managed to avoid Assyrian captivity because King Hezekiah repented and trusted God (701 BC; Jer 26:18-19), the people’s ongoing sin will land them in Babylonian exile some hundred years later (587 BC; Mic 4:10). Isaiah, Micah’s contemporary, likewise foresees this when the emerging power of Babylon sends envoys to King Hezekiah presumably with the hope of establishing an alliance with Judah (Isa 39:1-4, 5-6). The very power the people place their trust in will enslave them and the future Babylonian attack on Judah will raise cries of agony. Micah, at this point, may be mocking the people (Mic 4:9), who earlier would have placed confidence in their earthly king. Now he asks them satirically, ‘Don’t you have a king? Why don’t you go to him now?’ Alternatively, the prophet may be reminding them to seek the Lord, their true King and Counsellor, effectively saying to them, ‘Why all this anguish and panic? Have you forgotten that you have a King, the Lord Himself?’ Either way, his message calls the people to take stock.  

Their suffering, as they go through the devastating attack and are exiled is compared to the labour before childbirth, a stock metaphor for such events (Mic 4:10). We know from the description of the Babylonian attack in the Book of Jeremiah that the last king, Zedekiah, tried to flee the city but was captured. Many of the nobles, as well as the king’s sons were killed before his eyes; he himself was blinded making it impossible for him to reign in the future, while Jerusalem was burnt and the walls were broken down (Jer 39:4-8). The people to be taken into exile were gathered at Ramah, about 8 km north of Jerusalem (Jer 40:1; see map here) and given that such a small town could hardly hold all the exiles, it was likely that they camped out in the field (Mic 4:10).

Despite these dismal prospects, the imagery of childbirth suggests hope: beyond the agony of birth pangs is the joy of delivery, a new life. God’s people will be rescued and redeemed, but it will not be an easy ride. They will have to go through exile, the shock and sorrow of all they have lost, the shaking of their arrogance and complacency. In fact, Micah exhorts them to ‘writhe and labour to give birth’ (v.10). It is not enough to endure the pain, they must be actively involved in birthing a new beginning. While the Lord will make a way back into the land, the people will have to process the events, reflect on the cause and come to repentance. Burying their head in the sand in self-pity with the mentality of ‘I will think about it tomorrow’ will not do because, as Socrates allegedly said, ‘The unexamined life is not worth living’.

As so often, Scripture holds up a mirror for us. We may not find ourselves in the midst of such dramatic events as described here, nor be heading for disaster because of our sin. Nevertheless, this passage encourages us to live our lives with a willingness to reflect on what God is doing in it, to learn from our mistakes and to seek to grow spiritually through the challenges that the Lord brings. Unless we learn the habit and continue in it even when difficulties come, we will not be able to tackle disaster well. But when we do so, we mature in our faith and understanding and Christ’s character is formed in us.

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