Can there be anything worse than being chastised or rebuked in front of your enemy? Have you ever suffered the embarrassment of having your sin exposed and addressed while people who didn’t like you were looking on? I am reminded of the wonderful children’s book “Harriet The Spy.” Harriet, an aspiring writer, observes people every day on her “spy route” and writes her unfiltered thoughts in a notebook. During a game of tag one day, her notebook is lost and found by her enemies, Marion and Rachel. They expose her writings, and she loses her best friends Sport and Janie. Over the next few chapters we see Harriet deal with the humiliation of exposure and her pain at having her enemies laugh at her plight. Times of correction are hard enough, but to have people watching who are actually enjoying it is a miserable thing.

Micah dealt with exactly that. His prophecy about God’s impending judgment had fallen on the kings’ deaf ears. Both Jotham and Ahaz continued in their idolatrous and adulterous ways, leading the people into corporate sin and shame. Micah felt the sting of both the punishment that is to come, and the nations who will watch and gloat over it. Yet even through it all, his confidence in the Lord’s eventual forgiveness was strong.

Micah 7 (Common English Bible)

Do not rejoice over me, my enemy,
        because when I fall, I will rise;
            if I sit in darkness, the Lord is my light.
⁹ I must bear the raging of the Lord,
    for I have sinned against him,
        until he decides my case and provides justice for me.
    He will bring me out into the light;
        I will see by means of his righteousness.
¹⁰     Then my enemy will see;
        shame will cover her who said to me:
            “Where is the Lord your God?”
    My eyes will see her ruin;
        now she will become something to be trampled,
            like mud in the streets.

This is a beautiful passage of confession and comfort. Israel had sinned and would pay for their apostasy, but God delights in showing mercy to those who are truly penitent. God doesn’t hold on to his anger. God will show Israel faithful love once again, bestowing compassion and love on them. Much more than remorse, or simply feeling sorry for their sins, Micah articulated the deep penitence the nation was offering. He grieved the wrong their sin had done to the Lord, showing that they were not just feeling sorry for themselves, but truly repentant.

¹⁸ Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity,
        overlooking the sin of the few remaining for his inheritance?
    He doesn’t hold on to his anger forever;
        he delights in faithful love.
¹⁹ He will once again have compassion on us;
        he will tread down our iniquities.
You will hurl all our sins into the depths of the sea.
²⁰ You will provide faithfulness to Jacob, faithful love to Abraham,
        as you swore to our ancestors a long time ago.

To think that God is this forgiving is a stunning thing. That, of course, is the whole reason that God sent his only son to us: So that Jesus can hurl all our sins to the depths of the sea and forget them forever. Our enemies may laugh for a moment, but it is God who gets the last laugh when the people return in confession, repentance, and humility.

Are you struggling with sin or failure? Have you disappointed God? Are your enemies laughing at you behind your back? Count on God’s compassionate, faithful love. He will heal your penitent heart if you let him.

Where Your Sins Are by Michelle Robertson