For
Crying Out Loud
Micah 6:9 “The Lord's voice crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it.”
1. Crying Unto The City
2. The Man of
Wisdom
3. Hearing the Rod
Have you ever heard that saying before: “for crying out loud”?
I use to hear it when I was a boy. “For crying out loud”; where did this saying come from?
The people in this world cannot figure this thing out.
1. Crying Unto The City
“The Lord's voice crieth unto the city,"
God is crying out loud to us.
God is crying out loud to His people Israel.
We can see this so vividly by way of the prophet, Isaiah, in the book of Isaiah, in chapter forty, starting with verse one:
“Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins.” [Isaiah 40:1-2]
Now, notice this, God says to “cry unto her”.
It is a voice that cries, whether it be directly, God’s voice, or be the voice of God’s prophet.
Verse three thru five: “The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” [Isaiah 40:3-5]
God is crying out loud to His people Israel. God is crying out loud to us.
The VOICE said CRY!!!
Verse six thru eight: “The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.” [Isaiah 40:6-8
When God said to cry out in this BOOK he meant for it to be cried out with vim and vinegar. To cry out is to lift up the voice with strength, and to be not afraid to do it.
Behold your God! Verse nine: “O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!” [Isaiah 40:9]
Behold your God! Judgment is coming, and judgment is even upon us. God shall cry out … according to Isaiah chapter forty two, verse fourteen: “I have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once.” [Isaiah 42:14]
Behold your God! There is something else here. Crying is only step lower in power than roaring. God shall “roar”. “The Lord shall go forth as a mighty man, he shall stir up jealousy like a man of war: he shall cry, yea, roar; he shall prevail against his enemies.” [Isaiah 42:13]
Behold your God! It gets better than roaring! God shall “howl”!
God howls for unsaved men. God did for the men of Moab. Read Jeremiah chapter forty-eight, verse thirty-one: “Therefore will I howl for Moab, and I will cry out for all Moab; mine heart shall mourn for the men of Kirheres.” [Jeremiah 48:31]
For crying out loud … with roaring … and with howling, God deals with people … so that they may hear Him! Amen!
2. The Man of Wisdom
“and the man of wisdom shall see thy name:"
Listen to this truth.
A man, who fears God, will hear the cry of God. It is a man of wisdom that will hear the cry that comes from God.
Consider for a moment what the Book of God is saying for the good of your soul in the book of Proverbs chapter eight verse one:
“Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice?” [Proverbs 8:1]
Something else, crying and weeping are not the same things. Did you know that?
Two things that are different are not the same.
Crying out loud and weeping are two totally different things.
There are those, who weep, who are weeping for pain, and there are those who weep, who are weeping for sorrow.
This is universal, and is experienced by all people under the sun whether they be unsaved or saved.
However, it is only a “man of wisdom” who is acquainted with certain kind of sorrow, a “godly sorrow”. [2 Corinthians 7:10]
A “man of wisdom” is one who is acquainted with grief, grief over his sin or grief over the sin of others. “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.”
The man, or woman, or child who hears God CRY out loud, or hears the man of God who CRIES out loud … is a man, or a woman, or a child, who will experience “godly sorrow” often through weeping. This person will have a heart that is bent toward the Spirit of God and made akin to God’s heart.
Remember Peter after he denied the LORD in Mark fourteen, verse seventy-two: “And the second time the cock crew. And Peter called to mind the word that Jesus said unto him, Before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. And when he thought thereon, he wept.” [Mark 14:72]
Notice here, the heart of God and notice here, the weeping of the people … in Isaiah chapter fifteen verse five: “My heart shall cry out for Moab; his fugitives shall flee unto Zoar, an heifer of three years old: for by the mounting up of Luhith with weeping shall they go it up; for in the way of Horonaim they shall raise up a cry of destruction.” [Isaiah 15:5]
Do you see what I see?
God [thru the prophet] weeps for those who are under a heavy load. For this to be seen more clearly we can go to Jeremiah [the weeping prophet] in Jeremiah chapter forty-eight verse thirty-two: “O vine of Sibmah, I will weep for thee with the weeping of Jazer: thy plants are gone over the sea, they reach even to the sea of Jazer: the spoiler is fallen upon thy summer fruits and upon thy vintage.” [Jeremiah 48:32]
Yea! The true prophet, or in our day, the true pastor, will weep for the sheep of their pasture or for their flock. We see this in Joel chapter two, verse seventeen: “Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God?” [Joel 2:17]
Jeremiah wept for the people in his day. See Jeremiah chapter thirteen, verse seventeen: “But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride; and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the Lord's flock is carried away captive.” [Jeremiah 13:17]
In the book of John’s Gospel in chapter we see the chief shepherd weeping in the shortest verse in the Bible. “Jesus wept.” [John 11:35]
3. Hearing the Rod
“… hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it.”
Now, “the rod” is upon us. The “rod” will certainly make its connection. The “rod” will have its desired effect. The Lord has appointed it to be so. He has appointed it in the days that have now long passed, and He has appointed it in our day, also. We are now seeing “the rod” applied today.
Now, men hear by “the rod”. The “rod” has a way of helping us to hear God. Though we may block our ears from the hearing of God’s word, and though we play dumb to the obeying of the word of God, “the rod” of God will help us to hear what God is saying to us all.
Remember this saying: “For Crying Out Loud!”
Weep now, Jesus Christ is weeping for you. Jesus Christ wants you to get saved from eternal damnation.
Why not come to Him now. Simply, repent of your sin, and believe on the LORD Jesus Christ through faith.
For Crying Out Loud … Trust in Him only! Amen!