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 …?
The total summation and key point to God accepting our sacrifices is the word, “PLEASING”. God created us to please Him. Your being created is not for you to show muscle, it is so that you can please Him.
One thing you need to know is that “If your life is not pleasing God, then it is pleasing the Devil. And if it is pleasing the devil, then it is displeasing God”.
Revelations 4:11 says, “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.”
Why were you created? The answer is to give God pleasure. Maybe you should ask yourself, “Is my life giving God pleasure or displeasing Him?”
He gave you gifts and talents, what are you using them for? Instead of using them unto God’s glory, you decided to use it for self-gratification and making money, dragging people to hell day by day because of the talent you have. You will definitely give account of every talent given to you on judgment day.
Still talking in that verse 7, after asking if the Lord will be pleased, the following question ‘What will God be pleased with?’ was raised. (7) Will 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”.
a. Thousands of rams
b. Ten thousand rivers of oil
c. Firstborn for transgression
d. Fruit of the body for the sin of my soul.
I asked myself over and over again, “was this not almost what David and Solomon too did by giving a thousand burnt offering” according to 1 Chronicles 29:20-21 and 1Kings 3:4-5.
In 1 Chronicles 29:20-21, 21‘And David said to all the congregation, Now bless the Lord your God. And all the congregation blessed the Lord God of their fathers, and bowed down their heads, and worshipped the Lord, and the king. 21And they sacrificed sacrifices unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings unto the Lord, on the morrow after that day, even a thousand bullocks, a thousand rams, and a thousand lambs, with their drink offerings, and sacrifices in abundance for all Israel”.
1Kings 3:4-5, “3And Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David his father: only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places 4And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that was the great high place: a thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar. 5In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, ask what I shall give thee”
Looking at the two accounts, you will discover some key things there were made bold and underlined in the passages. The same thousand offering Solomon gave, is what this person in Micah 6:7 wanted to give. Solomon gave and he was rewarded with it that God had to appear unto him and told him, ask anything you want. That is following the footsteps of his father David who had even given in fact, much more than what Solomon offered but the truth remains that God was pleased with his offering because of the heart he gave it with (he loved God and walked in His statutes).
Looking further, this man was willing to offer his firstborn to God for his transgressions peradventure he had offended God. This shows to us that this man really wished to give. But let us look at the answer given in verse 8.
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. (KJV)
He started by addressing a serious matter. He said, “God has showed you, O Man, what is good…”
What has God shown you? What exactly did God tell you about? Everything you need to know and see is all written in His Word, the Bible. God can decide to show you also via revelation, dream, inner witness, a still small voice, etc. God will surely tell you something. God speaks to many people, but the challenge is that they do not hear him. His sheep hear his voice only.
And also, you know what is good but you do not do it. They tell you smoking is dangerous to health, but yet, you continue in the act. Every Sunday, you hear fornication, adultery, lying, cheating and backbiting are bad and such people will have their place in hell fire. Yet, you continue to engage in such practices.
Now, to the crux of the matter. If God will not be so much interested in the plenty things and sacrifices of this man, what then does God really want or require?
WHAT DOES GOD REALLY REQUIRE – Micah 6:8
a. To Act - It is a Doing, An Action.
b. Justly - Righteousness, Living by Faith
c. To Love - Fall in Love, affection, interest
d. Mercy - Forgiveness, Compassion
e. Walk Humbly - Humility, service unto man, obedience
f. With Your God - Your creator, Your relationship with God.
I’ll just give a little shot on the five points.
a. TO ACT: God expects from you to act. Do not just put the words in your mouth, act it. The sacrifices you want to give, do not just talk it, act it. Whatever God wants you to do, start acting them. Good things as instructed by God. It is a doing (action) that is required. It is not passive. Do not say I am righteous or holy, live it.
b. JUSTLY: Your acting should not be to the wrong thing but rather to the right thing. You need to act justly. The dictionary meaning of the word ‘Just’ is defined as “morally fair: upright (of good morals, practicing ethical values), righteous (free from sin, moral and virtuous, suggesting sanctimonious, justified morally), equitable (fair, impartial).
It is also expedient to note that ‘Righteousness’ is by faith and not by works. Scriptures says in Romans 14:23 “… for whatsoever is not of faith is sin”. Romans 3:22 – ‘Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all…’; Romans 1:17 – ‘For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, the Just shall live faith’.
c. TO LOVE: Having acted justly¸ the next point of line is to fall in love, have affection, and grow interest in God. God is love and he expects that we also share in his traits. That is what distinguishes us from the unbelievers. His love in our heart. We are expected to love which is very fundamental to Christ-like living and inheriting the promise of God.
d. MERCY: Mercy is one of the names of God. He is a merciful God. He shows mercy unto as many that come to him pleading to be forgiven. Hence, if our father who is rich in mercy and has mercy on anyone who has done so great a wicked thing on earth, he also expects us not just to have mercy but love mercy.
That is to tell you that having and loving mercy are two different things. It was said concerning Jesus, “thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity…” Matthew 5:7 says, “Blessed are the Merciful for they shall obtain mercy”. It is not enough to give mercy today and say that is okay. You have to be called the merciful i.e always showing mercy.
Like our daddy in the Lord, Pastor E. A Adeboye says, “You have to be an incurable soul winner”. So likewise, loving mercy is to be addicted, incurable merciful person. Remember in Matthew 5:23, scriptures says,
“Therefore, if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
Your sacrifice will not be acceptable if forgiveness and mercy are not your attribute or character. Many give tithe and offering, but yet, still keep grudges against someone, somewhere, somehow, someplace. It is better to have mercy shown to such fellow so that you can likewise be shown mercy.
e. WALK HUMBLY: Yes, you have acted justly, then love mercy, what is the next thing to do? The answer is that “You walk humbly”.
Humility is key to God answering your prayers. James 4:6 and 1 Peter 5:5 both gave us a very sounding admonishment that “we need to be clothed with humility because God resisteth the Proud and giveth grace to the humble”.
What God hates most is when He sees a proud man walking towards him in a bid to sacrifice to him, he sets up a resistance immediately. He shouts from afar once he sees “a proud look” on the person giving the offering, sacrifice or tithe” just like the Pharisees. Your widow’s mite (little) with humility receives acceptance before God than a thousand dollars or billion notes with pride. Satan lost his place in heaven because of pride. Anyone who is proud in heart is behaving like his master, the devil.
f. WITH YOUR GOD: Walking with God requires humility. He is your creator and you need to revere Him. Give honour to whom honour is due. Anyone who kneels before God will stand before any man (whether kings or Presidents). Do not be over familiar with your Creator. Your relationship with God should be such that you fear Him and also relate with Him as father and son.
IN CONCLUSION
What God requires from us is that we offer to him what is pleasing unto him. To please God is to do his will by acting justly, loving mercy and walking humbly with him. Do not think you have arrived because of the little successes you have recorded in life, ministry, relationship, academically, socially, politically and financially. Be wise. Selah.
