TODAY’S SCRIPTURE Micah 6:6-8
Have you ever found yourself trying to impress or satisfy someone, and desperately you do just about anything to win favor? When babies cry, making silly faces might do the trick; when the boss tells a corny (terrible) joke, then an exaggerated, border-line creepy laugh might put you in good graces; and so on. We long to satisfy others and receive satisfaction in doing so. Have ever found yourself wondering what it takes to satisfy God? The Almighty, the Great I Am! Could you ever do anything remotely worthy of the attention of a Being so perfect?
To win the favor of God seems like an eternity of work! Micah reveals this as a mistaken attitude of some: Appeasing God with earthly goods/works will surely put me on higher spiritual ground. It is still common among God’s people today: If my prayers are longer and fuller of “Thou’s,” if my singing is louder, if my Bible is bigger, etc. then surely God will be pleased with me! While such attempts are in some wise, honest, and noble, the Lord values the hearts of His people before anything else. Thus, according to our text God desire three simple things from you and I: “to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God.” Consider for a moment what this entails. The request is in theory much simpler than thousands of rams, rivers of oils, and giving up a firstborn child. On closer inspection it becomes clear that these three aspects of love are hard to maintain in this world, yet they reflect the very nature of God in Christ. Injustice, bitterness, and selfishness are descriptive of a world that largely has forgotten God, and this is precisely the world in which we find ourselves.
However, a life of justice, kindness, and humility brings invaluable salt and light into this world.
The key is walking humbly with God. Walk with God (Genesis 5:24). It is not to about running ahead of Him (proudly) in assuming what He wants from us, nor to slack behind Him (lazily) and expecting Him to just accept whatever we offer. Walking with the Almighty means we do more listening than we do talking, more obeying than assuming, more receiving than rejecting. We will never “impress” God with what we do, but we can walk with Him humbly and bask in His redemptive work in our lives.
Today I will…1. stop trying to impress God and simply walk with Him, seeking to know what He expects of me as His child, 2. trust in His grace to save me over even my best attempts to save myself, and 3. give thanks for His redemptive work through Jesus Christ.
