Micah 2:8 Even of late my people is risen up as an enemy: ye pull off the robe with the garment from them that pass by securely as men averse from war
You are probably familiar with the concept of fight or flight. When we are under threat, we either stand our ground and fight or we just take off for the tall timber. Sometimes our body doesn’t know when there is a real threat and when there is not. So, oftentimes, for instance if you are in front of people, your body may tell you, “You’d better run!” when there is no actual danger. Nonetheless, all of us are familiar with the fight or flight instinct. It keeps us alive many a time.
When it comes to actual threats in our lives, there is almost a continuum, a line. On one end you have the abstract, things that may be a perceived threat but they are so vague, abstract, or big that they are not actionable; there is nothing we can do about them. In your life it may be China, the Russians, or the corruption of a political party in Washington D.C.
Next, in the middle of this line you have a felt threat, something you can touch and see. Oftentimes that is just a person in your life. You may not think of them as a mortal enemy, but there is someone in your life that if they would just change, then everything would be better.
Then there is the invisible threat that you can’t even see, and that threat is you. You see, your greatest threat is usually an inside job. Micah, like most prophets in the Bible, was speaking of threats, judgment to God’s own people. He wasn’t speaking to the Assyrians or the Babylonians, enemies of God’s people, he was talking to Samaria and Jerusalem, God’s own people in the divided kingdom.
In verse 8 he says, “Even of late my people is risen up as an enemy.” The enemy was not Assyria. The enemy was self. God goes on to say, “Ye pull off the robe with a garment from them that pass by securely as men averse from war.” So, they were concerned about an entire nation oppressing another nation, Assyria oppressing Israel, but on an individual basis, they themselves, individual persons, had oppressed other people. They had taken their garments. Perhaps they owed you money, and instead of taking just their shirt, you took everything they had.
Verse 9 goes on to say, “The women of my people have ye cast out from their pleasant houses; from their children have ye taken away my glory for ever.” These people whose farms would be taken by the Assyrians had themselves taken from their own neighbors.
Verse 10 says, “Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your rest.” They were in the confines and walls of a secure city, but it was not going to be their rest “because it is polluted.” It continues, “It shall destroy you, even with a sore destruction.” God is saying that their greatest threat was not Assyria, it was them. It was an inside job. Verse 1 talks about that in their beds and in their heads they thought about how they could get ahead. Now, there is truly evil in the world, but most people don’t think they are evil. Even evil people don’t think they are evil. They just think they are just looking out for themselves, and indeed they are.
Then, in verse 3 God says that the same thing would happen on a national basis. Assyria would be thinking of her own self-interest, and she would think that meant taking Israel captive just as Israelites thought about their own self-interest and that meant taking advantage of other people.
So, your greatest threat is usually an inside job, and that is true in two particular instances. First, when you only think of getting ahead. It is easy to think, “If I don’t think about me, who will?” Don’t you know? Are you an orphan, or is there a God and do you know Him? I’m not saying we shouldn’t plan ahead or work hard, but if all I am ever thinking about is me and not others, that is a sure recipe for misery and destruction, which is exactly what happened to God’s own people. So, we are under threat when we only think of getting ahead for ourselves.
Second, we are under threat when we only listen to agreeable messages. In verse 6 the people were saying, “Don’t prophesy to us. Just be quiet. We don’t want to hear it.” Verse 11 says, “If a man walking in the spirit [the wind] and falsehood do lie, saying, I will prophesy unto thee of wine and of strong drink; he shall even be the prophet of this people.” He was saying, “You are not listening to messages that are stringent but could help you, and you are listening to sweet lies that will kill you.”
There is a difference between being self-centered and self-aware. Today, we don’t need to be self-centered where everything revolves around us as if we are the sum and substance of the universe. We do need to be self-aware and realize that there is more to our life than our life and other people are involved. As I am thinking about self, I need to think about others. As I’m thinking about others, I need to realize there is a God. Remember, oftentimes my greatest threat is an inside job.