What Does God Want? Do Justice, Love Kindness, Be Humble Before God Series

Last we began a walk through the scriptures to answer the age old question What Does God Want? We began our walk with the prophet Isaiah, where God called Judeans to repentance, and truly accept Yahweh into their hearts before they began to pray to God for to work in their lives rather than for their lives.

Today’s scripture reading takes us to the same time period except this time the prophet is Micah and the question isn’t quite the same. The people are asking Micah what does God want them to do?

Micah responds with a simple message: do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God.

Do Justice, Love Kindness, and Walk Humbly with Your God. This sound very similar to the words that Isaiah relayed in Isaiah 1: 17. learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed…

So if we look at the first question. What kind of result do you think that God wants to accomplish? Well let’s take a look at what he tells the Judeans through Micah.

1) Do Justice

2) Love kindness

3) Walk humbly with God.

When you hear the command do Justice, what comes to your mind? Make fair, making right, helping those who are oppressed. So how does this relate to what God wants?

I can honestly say being a conservative, for a long time when I heard members of our denomination talk of “justice” it grated my nerves. Not because I felt that justice wasn’t needed, but more or less how these individual interpreted and applied justice. However over time I come to see justice from more than one point of view. Holy Justice is much more than proving right and wrong, or freeing the oppressed, or claiming someone deserves services. God’s justice is much more simple and complex all at the same time. It’s about real justice for all. It’s not about some sort of political view, or social view. It’s about pointing out people’s transgressions in a loving way; it’s about working to free people from the shackles of oppressions and sins that are inhibiting their lives. It’s not about changing morality, or saying one group has the right to steal from another just because that one group has no other way. Because that subverts the law of God for their own deeds. This was the very thing that Isaiah and now Micah were addressing. Justice for our lives, justice in our lives, and the Grace and Mercy God brings through renewing our lives.

This takes us into Love kindness, what kinds of thinks come to mind when we hear this phrase? Complement acts of kindness? Be kind? Be Gentle? I am reminded of how many people, I myself bear this particular thorn as well, often look for the bad in life, or a way to criticize something, rather than at the wonder that has been created. Kindness often takes work. We live in a society that is more interested in seeing the evil in people rather than great acts of good and kindness that go unnoticed. I know for myself, I have to remind myself that God wants us to look for the good in life. That God will take care of those that do evil.

This takes us into what walking humbly for God. What does this mean? This means giving ourselves over to God. This means admitting to our selves that God knows what is best for our lives and that we do this not out of absolute fear of the Lord Almighty but out of love.

All three of these items are very much intertwined with each other, in other words neither the people of Judea nor us could ever really do just one of the three without the other two. In other words to truly act with justice for all we must act with kindness and be humble. For in this way the glory of God is allowed to shine through and people are able to experience the Grace and Mercy that the Lord has for them.

So what does God want us to be or to do? What I get out this message is God wants us to be humble, act with kindness, and be just in our way of life. We are called as Christians to live by Christ’s example. And if we look at his life in the Gospel’s we see these three very commands fulfilled throughout his ministry on earth. He called for justice in all its forms, religious, social, and political. He called for all people to be treated as God’s people. At the same time he called for righteous behavior and treatment for and from all. At the same time he walked in exceptional humbleness never exalting himself or placing himself above those whom he served and tau