He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?     Micah 6:8

In Micah chapter 6, God is acting as prosecutor against Israel. He states His case. He lists all the things He has done for them including freeing them from slavery in Egypt; giving them Moses, Aaron and Miriam to lead them; reversing the curse of Balaam against them; and bringing them into the Promised Land.

Israel replies by asking God what must they do? Must they come with sacrifices to make up for their sin? But God lets them know He prefers obedience to offerings. He responds by saying they are to seek justice, love mercy and walk humbly with Him.

God wants the same from us. He wants us to act justly. Micah warned the people in chapter 3, verse 8 that God was a god of justice. God will judge us for our sins. He will not turn a blind eye to evil, wicked behavior (Psalm 11:5). There will come a day when we reap what we sow. He wants us to act justly towards others.

He wants us to love mercy. When we love mercy, this doesn’t mean we only love it when God shows us mercy. It means we show mercy to others as He has shown mercy to us.  We all love to receive mercy, but when we are followers of Christ, we should love mercy for others as well. We should be willing to give mercy.

Hosea 2:19 says, “I will take you to be My wife forever. I will take you to be My wife in justice, love, and compassion.” This is a covenant made with God and the people of Israel. When we surrender to Christ, it’s like a marriage. We come together with Him. We want what He wants. We want His will over our will to be done.

In Micah 3:2 God told the people, “You hate good and love evil. You tear off people’s skin and strip their flesh from their bones.” We are to act justly towards others. We are to show kindness. We are to love mercy.

And last but not least, we are to walk humbly with God. God hates pride (Psalm 5:5, Proverbs 6:16-19). We can’t be prideful and walk with the Lord. It just doesn’t work that way. We are to walk in total submission. We are to surrender ourselves to Him.

God asks that we do these three things. I don’t think it’s too much to ask. I can, however, tell you it’s not easy. I’ve been there, done that and got the t-shirt. It’s not always easy to act justly. It can be even more difficult to be merciful. Humbling ourselves is also something we often have trouble with, but God requires these three things.

He wants our obedience over anything else we can offer. Trust in Him today. Obey His commands. This will make it easier to seek justice, love mercy and walk humbly with Him.

Have a great day!