This Is What He Requires Of You

No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: 

to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.

Micah 6:8

Leading up to this scripture Micah was telling the Israelites the many ways in which they had wronged God and others.  God had been so faithful to them but their response over the years was selfish.  They continued to worship other gods and complain when they didn't get what they wanted.  They took matters into their own hands and became a sinful nation.  Micah was declaring their guilt and speaking on God's behalf asking them what God had done wrong, describing all of the great things He did to save them from horrible circumstances in the past.  In a sense, Micah was pleading with God's people to repent and turn from their wicked ways because God's judgment was coming.  

Micah was repentent of his own sin and the sins of all the people and He was afraid of what was to come.  He offered pardon to those who confessed and repented but they thought their forgiveness had to be bought so they asked what they should offer up to God.  They begged to know what they could bring God to take away the wrong they committed and even offered to sacfrifice their own children for forgiveness, to save them from God's punishment.  God's answer through Micah was simple yet something we must never take for granted or forget in our own daily lives.  They need only to do what was right, love mercy and walk humbly with God.

Knowing God and the character of Jesus we are easily in tune with what is right and wrong.  If we ever question something we are more than blessed to have the bible to go to for answers and guidance and so at least knowing what is right shouldn't be hard.  The hard part is doing it.  Which becomes a choice we all have to make.  God is good and right and we can follow Him as we grow to know Him on an intimate level.  Doing what is right is asked of us by our loving Father.  

Mercy is compassion or forgiveness shown towards someone that deserves punishment.  When we offer someone mercy we are witholding the punishment his or her sins deserve.  God asks us to leave the judgement in His hands and He asks us to offer mercy so that we won't harbor bitterness within our hearts because a bitter heart is a hard heart.  As God's children we are expected to offer mercy to those who wrong us and trust Him with their consequences and punishement.

Walking humbly with God is the third thing God requires of us.  We aren't supposed to boast in ourselves but glorify Him in our accomplishments and daily tasks.  Being humble is not acting proud or haughty.  It is taking on a meek and gentle spirit with a modest estimate of our own importance.  If we know God the way we should then we know we are nothing without Him.  God asks us to let down our selfish ways and trust Him with our lives.  He wants us to become nothing so that we can be His.  

God asked this of the Israelites because just making sacrifices was an easy fix.  God wanted more from His people.  He wanted changed hearts and He knew in order to create a clean, renewed heart in someone their actions had to change.  By asking His people to do what is right, love mercy and walk humbly they would have to make a huge change in their hearts, attitudes and actions.  He asks this of us, still today.  God wants our hearts!  And if we aren't ready to change for Him then we aren't listening to this ancient request.  God requires us to make these changes in our lives just like he did the Israelites many many years ago.  His Word is never changing!  It is a living Word that works today, and speaks today just like it did thousands of years earlier.  Are you fair in your dealings with people offering mercy and forgiveness when they hurt you?  Are you trying to do what is right?  Are  you learning humility and puting your trust in God instead of yourself?   These are the things we need to evaluate often in our lives.  The Lord has told us what is good!  Are we listening and acting?