Micah 7:3

I. "Without hands." There are some good men who seem to be without hands altogether. From dawn of life until dusk they do nothing expressly for Christ. All the day passes thus in idleness with them. As to work: they could work with hands, because they do, in other things. But as soon as they come to any expressly Christian work both hands drop down, and there they stand—without hands.

II. "With one hand." This is the second state. For so, many of God's servants serve Him. And this is well when it is just at the beginning of the service. Let all the one-handed ones hear the "God speed" of the older workers. If the older hands in a manufactory, the men of skill and ready hand, were to come and look over the work of the apprentices in a mocking spirit, or even with an air of proud superiority, these young learners might feel justly aggrieved. But if these men come as instructed by the master; and, looking over the work in a spirit of kindliness, point out its deficiencies, and see how they can be remedied and supplied, will there be any cause of grievance then? If they say: "With both hands you must work, and watch with both eyes, if you wish to become prime and perfect workmen"—would not this be the greatest kindness to the young workers? Now this is just what we say to all learners in progress—in short, to all one-handed men, we say—

III. "With both hands." For after all there is no perfection, even of a relative kind, with one. And the continued use of only one is a shocking imperfection in the Christian service. For as both hands have been given for use, the other will not be idle. It will be working in forbidden ways. It will be grasping the world. Work "with both hands" for very safety.

There is yet, however, a higher stage of obedience, the highest of all, which is expressed by all the words of the text "with both hands earnestly." It is not enough that all the talents are laid out; they must be laid out to the best advantage. It is not enough that every power and passion shall be enlisted in the Lord's service; they must all be baptized, inspired, and energized with a Christian's earnestness. (1) Self-preservation requires an earnest life. (2) Honesty requires it. (3) Benevolence requires it. (4) Gratitude requires it. (5) Time requires it.

A. Raleigh, Quiet Resting Places, p. 299.

References: Micah 7:3.—J. G. Rogers, Christian World Pulpit, vol. v., p. 97. Micah 7:7.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxxi., No. 1819; W. Jay, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. iii., p. 175.

Micah 7:8-9I. Men commonly think a sin to be cancelled when it is done and over; or, in other words, that amendment is an expiation. They do not take the trouble to repent. Regret, vexation, sorrow,—such feelings seem to this busy, practical, unspiritual generation as idle; as something despicable and unmanly, just as tears may be. They are unbelieving, they are irrational, if they are nothing more than remorse, gloom, and despondency. Such is "the sorrow of the world," which "worketh death." Yet there is a "godly sorrow" also; a positive sorrowing for sin, and a deprecation of its consequences, and that quite distinct from faith or amendment; and this, so far from being a barren sorrow, worketh, as the Apostle assures us, "repentance to salvation, not to be repented of."

II. When Christians have gone wrong in any way, whether in belief or in practice, scandalously or secretly, it seems that pardon is not explicitly, definitely, promised them in Scripture as a matter of course; and the mere fact that they afterwards become better men, and are restored to God's favour, does not decide the question whether they are in every sense pardoned; for David was restored, and yet was afterwards punished. It is still a question whether a debt is not standing against them for their past sins, and is not now operating, or to operate, to their disadvantage. What the payment consists in, and how it will be exacted, is quite another question, and a hidden one. God may spare us, He may punish. In either case, however, our duty is to surrender ourselves into His hands, that He may do what He will.

J. H. Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons, vol. iv., p. 94.

References: Micah 7:8.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. v., p. 32; J. Keble, Sermons from Easter to Ascension Day, p. 220. Micah 7:9.—Clergyman's Magazine, vol. xi., p. 210; J. H. Evans, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. ii., p. 145. Micah 7:18.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. ii., p. 259; H. W. Beecher, Sermons, 1870, p. 489. Micah 7:18-20.—G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons, p. 169. Micah 7:19.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxvii., No. 1577.