What the Lord Requires
“He has showed you, O
man, what is good. And what does the
Lord require of you? To act justly and
to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8
Israel is on trial before the Lord in chapter 6 of
Micah. The first verse clues us in when
the Lord say, ‘Stand up, plead your case before the mountains, let the hills
hear what you have to say.’ God presses
His charges against Israel, claiming the people’s disobedience to His
commands. Yet the Lord had not abandoned
His people. This may strike a familiar
chord with us – for we have disobeyed the Lord’s commands and yet He has not
abandoned us.
The prophet Micah goes on to declare what God does want,
after he let Israel know that the sacrifices and burnt offerings were in and of
themselves missing the point. And so God
makes His point and it is an eternal point.
His command, if you will, traces through the rest of the Bible. Israel was to act justly, love mercy, and
walk humbly with God.
Jesus declares something similar in Luke 11:42, which
states, ‘Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue,
and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of
God. You should have done the latter
without neglecting the former.’
The message hasn’t changed for followers of Jesus. Today we are called act justly, love mercy,
and walk humbly with God.
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