Do not gloat over me, my enemy!  Though I have fallen, I will rise.  Though I sit in the darkness, the Lord will be my light.  Because I have sinned against him, I will bear the Lord’s wrath, until he pleads my case and upholds my cause, He will bring me out into the light;  I will see His righteousness.  Then my enemy will see it and will be covered with shame, she who said to me, “Where is the Lord your God?”  My eyes will see her downfall; even now she will be trampled underfoot like mire in the streets.  Micah 7:20 NIV

Our scripture passage today is talking about the Israelites messing up again.  As you know, they went through the process many times.  They would sin and stray from God.  God would send someone to warn them.  In this case it is Micah.  They would refuse to listen.  God would discipline them and they would suffer.  They would cry out to God, repent, and God would forgive them and eventually restore them.  They went through this process many times in the Old Testament.  Sadly, I have done the same in my lifetime.

Now here in this scripture passage, Micah knows that Israel will rise again.  How does He know this, because God loves Israel.  God doesn’t want to see them fail, but he must discipline them.

The term enemy is used several times in this passage.  Note that it doesn’t say enemies, but enemy.  We must realize that as Christians, we have only one enemy and that’s the devil.  He may come at us through many different people, but it is one enemy (Ephesians 6:12)   When the devil convinces us to stray from God and leads us into sin which separates us from God, he has something to gloat about.

But what the devil also knows is that God loves us unconditionally.  The devil knows that we can turn back to God and be restored.  We can rise up again. We may have to bear the Lord’s wrath, but we can be redeemed.  We can come from the darkness into the light.  We can see the downfall of our enemy.  We can trample our enemy.  We can defeat the sin that separates us from God (Isaiah 59:2), with His help.

God is faithful to forgive us if we will only confess our sins to Him (1 John 1:9).  So, if you want to rise again, look up to God.  Turn to Him.  If you are wondering where God is in all your suffering, know this, He has not moved.  He is right there with arms outstretched waiting for you to run to Him.

When we go through hard times, the devil gloats.  God doesn’t want us to suffer, He wants what is best for us.  So turn to Him and trample the devil.  Psalm 91:13 tells us that we can trample the lion and the cobra.  We can have the best God has to offer is we choose to live a life with Him.

I hope that you are not suffering, but if you are, know that God loves you.  If you question this or are angry at God, bring it to Him.  He’s a big God, he can handle it.  Call out to Him.  If you are not sure where to start, you can contact us through this website.  You can read God’s word.  You can reach out to a pastor or trusted friend.

My prayer for you today is that you understand just how much God loves you.  I also pray that you understand that our times of suffering here on earth are temporary and we are meant to rise again, but in order to do so we need God’s help.  We can rely on His strength (Philippians 4:13).  So I encourage you to trust in God, draw near to Him, and allow Him to help you through the tough times.  He wants us to rise again and with His help, we can do just that.

Have a great day!