According to a new survey from the World Economic Forum (WEF), the fastest growing threat to our planet since the COVID pandemic is “social cohesion erosion” which is simply “unrest due to change.” According to the WEF, it’s “perceived as a critical threat to the world across all time spans…and is seen as among the most potentially damaging for the next 10 years.” Further, “social cohesion worsens upon rising divisions and polarization in society… erosion also lurks in the fissures created by opposing viewpoints on vaccines and on face-mask mandates, and in the rallying cries for long-awaiting racial justice in historically oppressed communities.”

This is a story of crumbling civil society, fractured by conflicting forces from within. Included in the causes for this erosion are youth disillusionment, social security collapse, and livelihood crises. The report maintains that when paired with “mental health deterioration” things get even scarier: “All of that could come as a slow burn with fallout covering the next decade.”

“Risk-mitigation efforts” are possible, according to the report. This would include poverty alleviation, human health improvements, and basic resources security. While citing geopolitical rivalries, the report expresses the hope that “countries come together to ensure common benefits” while working together to share what should be universal resources.

Klaus Schwab of the WEF has talked about the need for a “Great Reset” which he has now rebranded as the “Great Narrative.” The world needs to unite around a new global story. He and the WEF want to help “imagine the future, design the future, and then execute the future.”

I thought of Isaiah 14:24-27 when I read of Mr. Schwab and the WEF. It is God who is in control of the future – not the WEF. “Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will stand. I will crush the Assyrian in my land; on my mountains I will trample him down. His yoke will be taken from my people, and his burden removed from their shoulders. This is the plan determined for the whole world; this is the hand stretched out over all nations. For the Lord Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him? His hand is stretched out and who can turn it back?”

Alec Motyer gives a succinct description of the sovereignty of God described in this passage. “Assyria was the current superpower, as Babylon was the rising superpower. Isaiah offers a prediction to be fulfilled within the lifetime of his hearers as an assurance that the more remote prediction of the fall of Babylon is equally certain.”

God crushed the Assyrian Empire in 612 BC when Babylon conquered it. Isaiah in this passage extols the sovereignty of God. He asks, “Who can thwart the Lord?” (v. 27). No one can seize the outstretched hand of God. As the Grace & Truth Bible states, “The Lord Almighty is not merely a reactor to historical happenings. He propels history, directing it for his sovereign purposes.”

Men, there will be a lot of chatter regarding the great “arc of history” in the days to come. Remember: the “Great Narrative” is in God’s hands. Listen to His challenge: “Why would you ever complain, O Jacob, or whine, O Israel, saying, ‘God has lost track of me. He doesn’t care what happens to me’?” Don’t you know anything? Haven’t you been listening? God doesn’t come and go. God lasts. He’s Creator of all you can see or imagine. He doesn’t get tired out, doesn’t pause to catch his breath. And he knows everything inside and out.” (Is. 41:27-28 Message).

The prophet Micah lived in a time when both Israel and Judah were “characterized by moral and religious corruption, social oppression, political intrigue, economic injustice, personal vice, deception and treachery’ (NLT Study Bible).  During his lifetime, the northern kingdom of Israel fell to the Assyrian Empire (722 BC) and the southern kingdom of Judah came close to the same (701 BC).  God allowed this because of the ungodliness of people who presumed upon the Lord’s goodness: “Yet they claim to trust the Lord and say, ‘The Lord is among us. Disaster will not overtake us!” (2:11 NET).   

Micah “paints a terrible picture of the decay of ordinary justice, the abuse of power by the courts’ judges, and the prevalence of bribery…lust for money has invaded the religious sphere and priest and prophet have grown accustomed to favoring the rich and brow-beating the poor…He sees the evils of society not only as the heartless exploitation of the weak by the strong, but a failure to grasp the meaning of true religion” ( J.B. Phillips). 

In Chapter 7, Micah grieves over society’s decadence.  Looking for the godly was like looking for fruit after the harvest had already ended: “…There is no grape cluster to eat and no fresh figs that my stomach craves” (7:1 NET).  As he walked through the city, he grieved that he could not find an honest person anywhere: “What misery is mine” (7:1).  Wickedness had become widespread, with the whole fabric of life seeming to unravel. The people were without law, justice, and righteousness. 

People took advantage of each other, creating an adversarial culture that lacked trust. “Faithful men have disappeared from the land; there are no godly men left.  They all wait in ambush to shed blood; they hunt their own brother with a net” (7:2 NET).  With the lack of faithful men, the vacuum left in society invited violence.

Government had become corrupt, to the point where those in authority plotted and maneuvered to satisfy their personal ambitions. “They are experts at doing evil; government officials and judges take bribes, prominent men announce what they wish, and then they plan it out” (7:3 NET).  They were basically crooked: “The best of them is like a thorn; their godly are like a thorn bush” (7:4 NET). 

Micah is fully aware that God was now bringing punishment on the people. “But your judgement day is coming swiftly now. Your time of punishment is here, a time of confusion” (7:4b NLT). In the midst of all this, Micah gives fair warning concerning relationships. “Do not rely on a friend; do not trust a companion!” (7:5 NET).    

Even worse was the mistrust and conflict in the family. “For a son thinks his father is a fool, a daughter challenges her mother, and a daughter-in-law her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are his own family” (7:6).  Men, can you see how relevant Micah’s words are today, as we witness the decline and fragmentation of civil order and family life? “Where there is no trust or confidence, and when occurrences are multiplied throughout a city and nation, the general situation deteriorates to a frightening degree” (Bible Speaks Today).

In this confusing time, Micah encourages us keep our eyes on the Lord: “But as for me, my eyes look for the Lord.  I will wait for the God who will save me; Yes, my God will deliver me?” (7:7 Phillips).  Men don’t allow the political voices of our day to get your eyes off Jesus. Lead your family daily in discussions of scriptural truth as it relates to the here and now.