What Does God Want From Me?
Micah 6:1-8
1 Listen to what the LORD says: "Stand up, plead your case before the mountains; let the hills hear what you have to say.
2 Hear, O mountains, the LORD’s accusation; listen, you everlasting foundations of the earth. For the LORD has a case against his people; he is lodging a charge against Israel.
3 "My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me.
4 I brought you up out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. I sent Moses to lead you, also Aaron and Miriam.
5 My people, remember what Balak king of Moab counseled and what Balaam son of Beor answered. Remember from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of the LORD."
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 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.
(NIV)
Andy was just an interesting fellow.
He’d never been out of his home town until he went to college.
He rarely showed any signs of emotion, but he had a great sense of humor.
He became a devoted Christian while we were in college, and often told people, “Just remember. Jesus loves me and he loves you.”
When he became angry, however, Andy would simply say in a deadpan fashion, with a completely straight face, “Just remember, Jesus loves me, and he LIKES you.”
But when things really went badly – I mean REALLY bad, he would eventually throw up his hands and look at the sky and yell, “Good God Almighty, what do you WANT from me?”
Haven’t you ever felt like doing that? Just looking up at God and pleading with Him, “Good God Almighty, what do you WANT of me?”
It just so happens that this is the message Micah presents in our Old Testament lesson for today.
Micah is one of the Minor Prophets, which is a collection of books that make up the last few pages of the Old Testament. We have been looking at the Minor Prophets for a few weeks, taking a look at a different one each week. Today we turn our attention to Micah.
Micah was the prophet of the downtrodden and exploited people of Judean society. He prophesied during a time of great social injustice and boldly opposed those who imposed their power upon the poor and weak for selfish ends.
As he preaches to the people, Micah himself raises the question that my old college roommate used to ask – “Good God almighty, what do you want of me?”
Of course, Micah is a bit more poetic – “What does the Lord require of us?”
The answer comes as a three-fold response, beginning with “act justly.”
I. ACT JUSTLY
Or, in other words, act with fairness, honesty, and integrity.
Micah had a special concern for justice, primarily because he saw so little of it.
What God requires of us is that we do what is right and fair in our relationships with other people.
Justice involves the sense of a standard of equality among people. It can be as simple as being honest in even the smallest routine business transaction. In Micah, the prophet complained about the person who uses “dishonest scales, with a bag of false weights.” (Micah 6:11)
There is an old saying, “honesty is the best policy.” But for the Christian, that slogan should be, “honesty is the ONLY policy.” Because this is a consistent theme in all of Scripture -- that we are called to be people of fairness and integrity in all our dealings.
In Psalm 51:6 we read, “You desire truth in the inward parts.”
In Proverbs 4:23 we read, “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring all the issues of life.”
We must settle it deep in our hearts to be a people of integrity, and be on guard in the battle to “act justly.”
Micah tells us three things God requires of us. One is to act justly. Easy task. But it is hard to make a reality.
We are a nation of Enrons – and they are not all on a large scale.
We do the cheating on small scales that never make the headlines.
We cheat our neighbors.
If we can swindle an employee, or steal from our employer, we’ll find a way and do it.
But God requires all of us – Enron or simple individual – to act justly.
II. LOVE MERCY
The second thing that God requires of us is that we “love mercy.” We are also to fill our hearts with compassion and kindness toward one another. The Hebrew word that Micah uses here is translated as “mercy,” is a rich one, used variously as mercy, tender mercies, lovingkindness, steadfast love.
It is a word that most often used in a covenant sense, involving the attitude of two parties who are in covenantal relationship with one another. In relation to God’s mercy, it is used most often of His grace, or of UNEXPECTED kindness.
Notice also that the requirement here is not that we HAVE mercy, but that we are to LOVE mercy. There is a big difference between the two. One way of describing the difference is to say that we don’t just do acts of kindness from a sense of obedience or compulsion, but we do them out of love.
There seems to have been an emphasis in Jesus’ teaching on the idea of UNEXPECTED acts of kindness. In the parable of the Good Samaritan, it was the one considered least likely to offer help who did so.
The parable of the prodigal son reveals to us the heart of a father who accepted his son against the expectation of almost everyone.
The story of the woman caught in adultery teaches a compassionate mercy scarcely revealed in Old Testament Jewish law.
The dying thief on a cross has a lesson for us about the depth of God’s mercy.
Because we have such a merciful God, we are exhorted to have mercy. Jesus said, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy” (Matthew 5:7). Peter wrote, “All of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tender-hearted” (1 Peter 3:8). Mercy is often not what we would show one another; but it is the only response that makes any sense in light of the mercy that God has shown us in Jesus Christ.
Micah tells us three things God requires of us. One is to act justly. The second is to love mercy. Easy tasks. But hard to make a reality.
We don’t love mercy.
We don’t value kindness.
We return rudeness with rudeness.
We allow opportunities to show kindness to pass us by.
When we should be gentle with others, we are harsh.
III. WALK HUMBLY WITH YOUR GOD
Have you noticed that when Micah tells us what God expects, the first two things he expects have nothing to do with God. They have to do with how we behave toward one another.
God expects His children to love and get along with one another. He expects His children to treat one another justly and fairly, and He expects His children to love mercy and to show kindness toward one another.
But the third expectation Micah shares is that God expects us to have a right relationship with Him – with God Himself.
That right relationship with God always begins with humility, not arrogance.
Our New Testament reminds us (Ephesians 2:8-9), “it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast.”
God expects us to walk humbly with Him. Easy task. But it is hard to make a reality. We are arrogant. We are proud. We tend to think that God’s role is to make us happy, to serve us, to answer our prayers. But it is we who are to serve and glorify God.
SO -- WHAT DOES GOD WANT FROM US? Not that much, really.
To act justly,
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly with God.
Copyright 2002, W. Maynard Pittendreigh
