What God Really Requires From You Series

Micah 6: 6 - 8

6 With what shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before Him with burnt Offerings, with calves a year old? (KJV)

7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams or with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

8 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.” (AMP)

Introduction

When a man comes before the Lord and bows down before Him, there is an expectation from God. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts and His ways higher than our ways. God knows all things and everything on and in this earth and in heavens belong to Him. He owns them all.

Your coming before God should be that which pleases God.

Burnt offerings and sacrifices are very good. But in truth, as much as God appreciates good gifts, He does not take more pleasure in them than he does in the person giving such sacrifice.

When you do a careful study of Psalm 50:1-23 and Psalm 51:16-19, you will get a bigger picture of what God really requires and expects from us when offering any sacrifices to him.

In verse 5 of Psalm 50, he said, “Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice”.

The first thing to note there is that God wants to gather the “Saints”. God will not gather unto himself ‘Sinners’ even if you have given the best of the best gifts or sacrifices.

God appreciates sacrifices but yet, he looks at the person giving the sacrifice plus the content of the sacrifice. And when God looks at the person, he does not only look at the outward appearance, he looks at the heart of the person which is crucial. Is it with a good intention or just for ‘show’ or for ‘competition’ or for ‘I am there too’.

No matter the hugeness and gigantic size of the gifts or sacrifice you’re giving to God, if it is not done for the right reasons, God will not accept it.

God owns all things but yet, requires that you be a giver in the very little he gave you. He really does not need your gift since he has everything at the tip of his fingers. He only requires it as a form of worship.

Anyway, that is not the focal point of our discussion, though I would have loved to dwell extensively on this.

Pardon me as I might not be able to give a full download of this but the bottom line to this requirement from God is that he expects you to do the above point, “To Act justly and love mercy and walk humbly with your God”.

Let’s do a brief explanation of the bible text.

Verse 6 says, “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 of a year Old? (KJV)

The scripture is a question. With what shall I come before the Lord….? The first thing you need to also quickly note is that “you do not go to the presence of the Lord with an empty hand”. You must first think deeply about what you plan to give God. It is crucial to God. What do you intend to take before the Almighty God?

And again, it added by saying “… and bow down before the exalted God?” When you come before God to present your sacrifice or gift, the question is how do you present it to him? Bowing down is an act of obeisance and respect to the one you are giving it to. Showing a high degree of appreciation and thanksgiving for all He has done for you, knowing well that He is not a beggar but an exalted God. You bow down to Him (both in your heart and physically). Let it not be a physical expression only but also of the heart because that is what he really looks at.

A man can give a gift to a friend and even be smiling but deep within his heart, he is cursing and making a mockery of the fellow. That is unacceptable to God Almighty.

Now, moving unto verse 7, he further asked, “7Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”

Take a deep breathe! Some questions were raised here. I see the passion, the zeal, the love and how great this fellow wishes to give to God. But the first question there is “Will the Lord be Pleased …?