His Tender Compassion: Jamie Palmer
“They shall lick dust like a snake, like the crawling things of the earth; they shall come trembling out of their fortresses; they shall turn in dread to the LORD our God, and they shall stand in fear of you.” (Micah 7:17 NRSV)
“Like snakes crawling from their holes, they will come out to meet the LORD our God. They will fear him greatly, trembling in terror at his presence.” (Micah 7:17 NLT)
As I was reading and praying through the end of the book of the prophet Micah, this stood out to me. I felt much like a snake crawling on its belly to meet the LORD my God, a lowly and deceitful creature before him.
Micah 7:17 is a verse about the Gentile nations coming out to meet God, being amazed at the miracles he has performed for his people and “ashamed of all their might” compared to his. They become unable to speak and hear because of his glory, at the sight of the LORD leading his flock out of the forest into a fertile land, performing miracles as of old for them. These nations see and are astonished. Because of our Lord Jesus Christ, as Gentiles, we can see ourselves in this passage both in the nations of the world and as included and accepted into God’s precious flock, the “remnant of [his] possession” (Micah 7:18). Just as he promises for his people in the following verses, he will show us compassion, clemency, and faithfulness, treading our iniquities underfoot and casting them into the depths of the sea.
Who is a God like our God? When we crawl out of our holes like snakes in his presence, trembling in terror, there he forgives us and has compassion on us, his people. It is important in God’s presence to remember we are from dust, and like snakes we taste this dust often. Our death and our sin are ever before us. Even as we are the “brood of vipers” (Luke 3:7) fleeing the coming wrath, as John says of those coming to receive his baptism, God has pity on us. It is right to fear God and to tremble before him, but because of Jesus Christ his Son, we can also have confidence that he will forgive us our sins. When we come before him as Christians to spend time in his presence, he sees us as his sheep, and he guides us in his paths.
A lot of the Biblical language of snakes originates in Genesis chapter 3. The snake is the tempter of man in the beginning. Because the snake tempted man, God sentences it to crawl on its belly and eat dust, and he puts “enmity” between the snake and the woman as well as their offspring. And because we gave in to temptation and disobeyed God, we are sentenced to a life marked with toil and pain, drawing ever nearer to death. God reminds the man that he was taken from dust, and to dust he shall return. Thus, the image of the snake reminds us of both our mortality and our sin.
Daily, we struggle with our sin. There is enmity between what we want to do and what we end up doing because of the power of sin in the world. We see this clearly in Romans 7: “For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do” (verse 19), and “when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand” (verse 21). So: “Who will rescue us from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (verse 24). The Lord will rescue us from our sin that we don’t want to do because of his tender compassion for us. Jesus suffered for us on the cross and he continues to suffer with us. I love the word compassion, because it means “to suffer with.” Because of his faithfulness and unfailing love, God suffers with us day by day. And he sends us his Spirit to groan with us and to intercede when we groan to God in prayer.
As we come into the presence of God daily in prayer, let us remember that we are sinners. Our death is ever before us. But let us also praise God and thank him, for without our Lord Jesus Christ, this would be the end! Through the Holy Spirit, let us draw near to God in holy communion day by day. Let us know his love and compassion for us. He sees us in our lowliness, as we come before him in fear and trembling, eating the dust. And because of his abundant mercy through Christ, he accepts us whenever we earnestly come before him. Amen.
Jamie is a senior at LA Tech and a third-year member of our Wesley Discipleship Team this school year! With her servant’s heart and kind nature, she has been a breath of fresh air ever since becoming a part of our community. She is an extremely talented pianist and enjoys writing, drawing, and spending time in nature, as well. We’re very blessed to know her!