1 How miserable I am! I feel like the fruit picker after the harvest who can find nothing to eat. Not a cluster of grapes or a single early fig can be found to satisfy my hunger (no first-ripe fig that my soul desires). 2 The godly people have all disappeared; not one honest person is left on the earth. They are all murderers, setting traps even for their own brothers. 3 Both their hands are equally skilled at doing evil! Officials and judges alike demand bribes. The people with influence get what they want, and together they scheme to twist justice. 4 Even the best of them is like a brier; the most honest is as dangerous as a hedge of thorns. But your judgement day is coming swiftly now. Your time of punishment is here, a time of confusion.

5 Don’t trust anyone -  not your best friend or even your wife! 6 For the son despises his father. The daughter defies her mother. The daughter-in-law defies her mother-in-law. Your enemies are right in your own household!

7 As for me, I look to the Lord for help. I wait confidently for God to save me, and my God will certainly hear me.

Micah 7:1-7 New Living Translation

Verse 1 tells us how Micah felt as he looked at what the nation had become. Like a labourer who'd worked hard, but now there was nothing left to eat on any of the vines or trees. Probably a lot of leaves – but no fruit! But, of course, he is speaking about people rather than fruit! Who does he say had vanished from the land? (vs 2)

What a statement that was. Not one honest person could be found! And certainly no-one who was truly God fearing. Notice what he says happens when there are no honest and godly people left. (vs 2-4).

Those verses are frighteningly true of much of the world still. People with influence get what they want, and together they scheme to twist justice. He makes his point well when he says: “Both their hands are equally skilled at doing evil!” They had become experts in their wicked ways. What does he say was the tragic result of all the corruption in society? (vs 5).

It had reached the stage where you could trust no-one. You did not know if even people in your own family would cheat you. (This situation is also terribly true in Communist countries where Christians have to be careful that they are not betrayed by someone in their own family.)

But are things better today? In some ways yes, because the gospel transformed many countries. So, happily, there are still honest people about. But we also see lots of corruption at the highest levels such as Micah spoke of. Dishonesty and fraud are still rampant in society in general.

In the case of Israel, Micah warned that God's judgement was just around the corner for them. (vs 4). It was like that incident in the New Testament where we read these words: “In the morning, as Jesus was returning to Jerusalem, he was hungry, and he noticed a fig tree beside the road. He went over to see if there were any figs, but there were only leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Matthew 18:18-19. There comes a time when God has had enough and He deals with a nation. And with people too. We do well to ask ourselves “does my life have any of the fruit God desires – or am I just showy leaves?”

On the other hand, perhaps you are someone who has tasted the bitter fruit of being terribly let down by others – even someone in your own family. It may have left you thinking that there's no-one you could ever trust in the world again. But in the corrupt society Micah was in, who did he say he was going to trust? (vs 7)

God can be trusted! His great love is clearly evident in that He gave His beloved Son to pay the awful price of our sins. When we surrender our lives to Jesus then His many promises become our confidence. Like Micah we can say: “I wait confidently for God to save me,  and my God will certainly hear me.”