The Dream that Sustains
One way of reading these verses is to see them as a picture of how life will be once the new concept of power (a là Micah) and the new way of living (a là Jesus) are practised. Try reading it as a foreshadowing of the kingdom of God. Identify its manifold features.
Just as morning dew and evening showers make the grass grow without any human help, so God will achieve for his people precisely what is required. With the power of a young lion they are to have an edge over all their enemies, but then before they get illusions of grandeur they must understand that it will never work with the sort of power that armies depend on. Not horses and chariots (guns and missiles) nor fortified cities (huge defence budgets), and certainly nothing magical nor anything like the power they used to associate with their ancient gods which were really nothing more than false gods and idols. This is the power that comes from doing the right things not working out their own plan of campaign and then expecting God to bless it.
Underneath is the simple form of life which Micah has been talking about all along. Looking back, it found expression in the Children of Israel waiting daily for manna in the wilderness. Looking forward, it foreshadows the simplicity of the Lord’s Prayer — ‘Give us this day our daily bread’. It is an attitude to the whole of life founded on mutual dependence (not dependency) and mutual trust. No craving for what others have. No grabbing what others need. Nothing that will make us rich while making others poor. This is the key to the kingdom.
Micah’s dream taps in to the power of God. Those who do will discover their strength. Not everyone will. The power of armies will not go away. Empires will still rise but in God’s time they will fall, as they always have. The power that comes from Micah’s approach to living is a kind which knows no end and is secure — at least, until its members begin to ape other kingdoms at which point it will succumb just like the rest.