Mic 4:12  But they do not know the thoughts of the LORD; they do not understand his plan

  

Our verse today follows an incredible revelation that is rarely noted: “You will go to Babylon; there you will be rescued. There the LORD will redeem you out of the hand of your enemies.” (v.10) which is followed by a verse that tells us that other nations gloat over what is going to happen to Israel. That verse 10 is one of the clearest statements of what God's intention is for the nation of Israel – and this written long before the fall of Jerusalem and of Judah, even before the fall of Israel in the north.

 

We see two things here. First it is very easy to misunderstand what God is doing. There was going to come a time when Jerusalem was destroyed and all the people (except a small remnant) would be taken to Babylon. Everyone looking on will assume that that is the end of Israel, that God is utterly destroying them, but that is NOT what is happening. He is simply taking them into temporary exile where they will remain, and the Temple worship expressing their relationship with the Lord will be ended for seventy years – but it will be later restored.

 

The second thing to note is that God has a plan and He does share it with the people. The fact that so often they fail to take notice of what He has said is neither here nor there. He declares His will for those who WILL listen, who will take note and who will respond to Him. Will we be like this latter group? Are our hearts open to Him, our ears attentive to what He might be saying, our eyes open to see what He is doing? And do we understand what we see and hear? As those who now are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, we have one inside us who brings revelation, teaching and understanding to us if we will but focus on Him. One of the big messages of the Bible is that God is a communicator and so there is no reason for us to walk in the dark, for we have the Spirit of the one who said, "I am the Light of the world," and light dispels darkness and makes clear the world around us and what is happening in it.