Micah 7:5,7: “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. (7) Therefore I will look unto the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me.”
“Do not arouse the wrath of the great and powerful Wizard of Oz. Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.” L. Frank Baum – “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.”
When L. Frank Baum published his first novel on the Wizard of Oz, he created no small stir among politicians, economist, historians and theologians. The economist interpreted the yellow brick road and Dorothy’s silver slippers (they were only ruby in the movie version) as the gold and silver monetary standard. The wicked witch were the banks and railroad industries that drove the poor farmers from their land. The scarecrow represented the farmers and the tin woodsman was the factory workers driven to bankruptcy by the powerful. The Munchkins were the general population who also suffered from the rich and powerful, but accepted their lot in life. Toto was a shorten form of teetotaler which represent William Jennings Bryon. The Wizard of Oz, of course was President McKinley who pretended to have great power but actually was nothing more than a weak little man hiding behind a curtain holding his kingdom together with a lot of bluff and bluster.
This picture fits well into the time period and social situation of Israel at the time of Micah. The nation was entering a period of prosperity but the great wealthy and powerful barons took advantage of the poor and working class, farmers, merchants and the general population. People turned to God as the characters of the Land of Oz turned to the Wizard. Like the Land of Oz, the people of Israel saw little or no response from God. Many prophets kept encouraging them that God would intervene to relieve their suffering. Most of the people, like the Munchkins, just went about their business, aware of the Great Wizard, but paying little attention to Him feeling he really didn’t care to help. Dorothy and her companions however, journeyed to the Emerald Palace to confront the Wizard and demand that he grant their wishes. The Wizard sends them out on an impossible mission, yet they succeed and return to claim their reward only to discover that the Wizard is just a kindly old man from Omaha who wandered into Oz in a hot air balloon.
I am sure many of the people of Israel must have felt that God was just a kindly old man hidden behind a curtain and incapable of helping them as they watched the rich and powerful drive them into poverty, steal their lands and homes. Having lost their lands they moved to the cities were things were even worse and all the time they cried out: “Where is God, why does He not do something.” The prophet Micah as the prophet Amos and Isaiah kept trying to reassure the people that God will save them.
In the New Testament the Apostle Paul addresses believers in the Book of Hebrews chapter 10:35 encouraging them and telling them that the “Just shall live by faith.” Because of their faith in Jesus, these Christians suffered from gossip and lies told about them, many lost their jobs and livelihood, many had their homes and all their possessions taken from them. They too most likely looked up and asked: “God where are you?” And all Paul could offer them was to tell them to live by faith. Is God powerless, can He not act in our behalf? Is he just a nice old man behind a curtain?
Micah came from a small town which was overruled by the rich and powerful. He suffered like the others of a loss of home and possessions and was also driven to poverty. Micah prophesied and said that: “I will look to the Lord. The word look in Hebrew is saphah which is a watching with expectation. This is found in a piel imperfect form. This is an uncompleted action, an action that will continue and continue, of intense watching. This is a watching that is concentrated on God and not distracted by events surrounding the watcher. Micah then says he will wait for the Lord. There are two possible roots words for the word wait that is used here. One is yachol which is the accepted rendering and this means to wait with expectation. It is in a Piel form with a paragogic Hei and would indicate that this will be a long wait. I believe Micah was also making a play on the word chol which is the other possible root word. The word chol means to dance but is found in a piel form. This is a dance that you put your whole heart into. This is not just a simple social dance, but a Dancing With The Stars type dance where you put your whole soul and being into that dance.
I know there are times I go before God awed by his display of signs and wonders although none of those signs and wonders seems to bring any relief to my situation. Yet, Toto pulls back that curtain and there I find a kindly gentleman who does not say: “Pay no attention” but in fact invites me over.” “Are you really God?” I ask. “Yes” He replies, do you not see all my signs and wonders?” “Big deal,” I say, “Your signs and wonders are great for someone else, but they don’t seem to be of any value to my present situation.” However it appears from the book of Micah that God is allowing himself to be limited, limited by His laws and by giving man a free will. He does have the power to intervene but to do so would break His laws and violate man‘s free will. To be honest, I don’t understand, but I do know that in those times of great trial when I directed my will toward God we have gotten to know each other quite well.
In these times when it seems God is not responding we must be able to do what Micah instructed and that is to keep our attention on Him, wait as long as we must wait and in the meantime just sing and dance and praise His name. God promises that one day He will respond, He will respond when it will not violate any laws or man’s free will.
So in the meantime we should just enjoy His display of signs and wonders even though we may not benefit personally we can be thankful for those who lives are changed by it, and not be like the jealous brother of the prodigal son and forget our relationship with a Father who loves us just as much as that prodigal son who got the signs and wonders, nor allow our relationship with that prodigal son who is our brother be hindered by jealousy. Also, we are not to get so caught up in His signs and wonders that we forget that there is something even better and it is right behind the curtain, a close fellowship with God. For He is a God who hears and is saying, “Please pay attention to that Man behind the curtain.”
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