“He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?”
It’s good to know what God expects from you, it keeps things simple. But When you look deeper into what God prescribes for your life, while there are definitely specifics, it’s actually very general. Meaning there’s lots of room for choice on your part.
As we wind down 2022 and look toward a new year, I plan to remember this verse in my daily life. I can’t say there’s one action defined for me from this passage. It’s more of a way of life.
When the Prophet Micah brought this word to Israel, he warned of judgment. He got to a point where he clarified how God expected them to live to avoid judgment. The funny thing is, it’s not that complicated.
Micah 6:6 With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? 7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 8 He has shown you, O mortal, 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 points out that you can not do enough for God or make enough sacrifices for Him, but you can live in a way that honors Him.
Act Justly
Love Mercy
Walk Humbly with Your God
Act justly means to do the right thing. It’s not referring to keeping the Law perfectly, it basically means to live with honor and integrity in day-to-day life.
Love mercy means goodness, kindness, and faithfulness. That sounds like - love one another. God desires mercy over sacrifice, we can live the same way with others. To love mercy as a life’s philosophy reminds me of 1 Corinthians 13’s description of love, to give others the benefit of the doubt and be quick to forgive, not holding one another’s failures against one another.
Walk humbly with your God. The word “humbly” in this passage is not the usual word for humble, it means: lowly, to yield to, to hold the door for.
To be humble before God is to yield to Him in your life. So hold the door for Him and let Him go first into each situation. In other words, consider how He sees people in the arena you’re entering. How would He treat people or behave in the environment you are walking into? How would He love and unify in the spaces you occupy?
Hold the door for the Lord as you live your life, and allow your motives to be shaped by His character within.
