Micah 5:1-8
The Gift of Hope

Marshal your troops, O city of troops,
     for a siege is laid against us.
They will strike Israel's ruler
     on the cheek with a rod.

"But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
     though you are small among the clans of Judah,
out of you will come for me
     one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,
     from ancient times."

Therefore Israel will be abandoned
     until the time when she who is in labor gives birth
and the rest of his brothers return
     to join the Israelites.

He will stand and shepherd his flock
     in the strength of the LORD,
     in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God.
And they will live securely, for then his greatness
     will reach to the ends of the earth.
And he will be their peace.

When the Assyrian invades our land
     and marches through our fortresses,
we will raise against him seven shepherds,
     even eight leaders of men.
They will rule the land of Assyria with the sword,
     the land of Nimrod with drawn sword.
He will deliver us from the Assyrian
     when he invades our land
     and marches into our borders.

The remnant of Jacob will be
     in the midst of many peoples
like dew from the LORD,
     like showers on the grass,
which do not wait for man
     or linger for mankind.
The remnant of Jacob will be among the nations,
     in the midst of many peoples,
like a lion among the beasts of the forest,
     like a young lion among flocks of sheep,
which mauls and mangles as it goes,
     and no one can rescue.

New International Version

The circumstances Micah described were desperate for the Israelites. The situation was becoming clear, and it was nothing short of a tragedy. However, the tragedy wasn't in the defeat to come from the Assyrians, but in the rebellion of the people, defying their God, and leading to the pending fall.

But in God's power, what would fall would be raised up again. There is always hope in defeat with God! The hope that Micah proclaimed would come from the most insignificant spots in the country. In God's power, the least important class of people in small numbers would be enough to defeat the strongest enemy. The people, who would be scattered in the pending defeat, would be brought back together from even the farthest reaches of the earth. The remnant of Israel would be so much more than the nation had been before. It is never human power, and it is always God's power, that carries out God's will.

In God's power, victory would be so much more than the defeat of the enemy. With restoration would come abundance and blessings, with the "remnant" as numerous as the dew. Not only would enemies be defeated, but God's people would live in security, a wild dream for those living in a small nation situated between mighty powers of Assyria and Egypt. Not only would God be their ruler, God would be their shepherd, their care giver, in the person of the baby born in Bethlehem.

We celebrate Hope at Christmas, for in the baby Jesus was the way God prepared to restore all God's people. Hope still lives today in the person of Jesus, and God's restoration continues today. Micah describes for us a most desperate of circumstances, and how Bethlehem's child would conquer that desperation. In the same way, we cannot have circumstances so desperate that God, through Jesus, cannot bring us through to unmeasurable blessings.

At every time of year, we always have hope available to us through the God that loved us enough to send Jesus to be our Savior. Celebrate the birth of Jesus as the culmination of God's promise of hope.