“He has showed 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 6:8
I’m going to spend this week posting here about Micah 6:6-8. It’s a core Scripture, a foundational passage that reveals the heart of our God and transforms us for an abundant life in Christ. We know it, we quote it, we memorize it, and we wear it on T-shirts–it’s an important couple of verses. But how deep have we really gone with these holy words?
Let’s go.
Micah is prophesying sometime around the turn of the 7th century BC, and God’s people at this time are very well off. They’re wealthy. Rich. Powerful. And their lifestyle reflected it. What they thought about, what they talked about, and how they behaved was connected to their wealth. You see the evidence throughout Micah. God’s people are eaten up with buying more land, building bigger houses, taking longer vacations, and putting more money in the bank. The next-door-neighbor doesn’t matter. The needy family down the street isn’t important. What matters to God’s people in Micah is selling as much of my product as I can and getting as much for it as I can, even if it means hiding behind some fine print or not telling the whole truth about every detail or every transaction. Doing whatever it takes to keep up with the Bar-Joneses. Or to get ahead.
This attitude, this way of life, started at the top with Israel’s leaders and worked its way down through all the people. Micah is full of the accusations. The judges are taking bribes. The priests are only teaching what the people are paying them to teach. The prophets are only preaching what they’re told to preach, mainly that everything’s great. Everything’s good. The way we’re living, the things we’re doing–everything’s fine.
“If a liar and deceiver comes and says, ‘I will prophesy for you plenty of wine and beer,’ he would be just the prophet for this people!” ~Micah 2:11
In other words, if every time you came to church the preacher said, ‘What we need is more beef fajitas and more Blue Bell ice-cream,” you would love it!
“Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, and her prophets tell fortunes for money. Yet they lean upon the Lord and say, ‘Is not the Lord among us? No disaster will come upon us.'” ~Micah 3:11
We’re thinking only of ourselves, we’re getting richer and more comfortable while parts of the city are suffering more and more, there are poor people and sick people everywhere we look, but we’re great. Everything’s good.
And the Lord finally says, “Enough!”
“Stand up, plead your case before the mountains; let the hills hear what you have to say. 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.” ~Micah 6:1-2
This is a court case being described here. It’s a jury trial. God is the plaintiff bringing the case against Israel. Micah is the bailiff formally announcing the criminal charges. The mountains and hills are the witnesses–they’ve seen everything–and they’re being called to testify. The covenant has been broken. Next comes the voice of God:
“My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me. 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. My people, remember what Balak king of Moab counseled and what Balaam son of Beor answered. Remember your journey from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of the Lord.” ~Micah 6:3-5
God says, What have I done to deserve this? I rescued you from slavery. I’ve blessed you with great leaders. I protected you from evil kings. I brought you over the Jordan River and gave you all this land. Remember?
Now, I’m not sure if the next two verses are the people responding to God, or if it’s Micah quoting what the people have said in the past, or if Micah’s assuming this is what the people will say in response to God. Here it is:
“With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God?” ~Micah 6:6
God’s not happy with us? God says we’re breaking the covenant? He says we’re going to be punished (although I really can’t see that happening because we are his chosen people, after all). God’s reminding us again of all the things he’s done for us? So, how do we make God happy? How do we please God? What’s he looking for out of us?
“Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? 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 sins of my soul?” ~Micah 6:6-7
If God’s upset with us, we must not be doing worship correctly. We should be more careful with the sacrifices. We should go to church more. We should maybe offer an extra calf or two. We should probably consider Wednesday nights.
When you see a puddle of oil on the driveway under your car, it shouldn’t cause you to change the air freshener hanging on the rear view mirror. If your son is failing all his classes at college, you shouldn’t yell at him for not knowing the words to the school fight song. There’s an old saying about the futility of re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. The silliness of that. The absurdity of completely misreading the whole situation. Jesus calls it straining a gnat while swallowing a camel. And God shuts it down. The Lord, through his prophet Micah says, No, you don’t get it! It’s simple! Look, we’ve been over this for centuries!
“He has showed 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.”
Yeah, but where’s the list of things we’re not supposed to do?
No. Three things. Right here. Act justly, love mercy, walk humbly with God.
But where’s the stuff on how we’re supposed to worship?
No. Three things. Here they are. Act justly, love mercy, walk humbly with God.
Our God has always communicated very clearly since Day One what he wants from us. This has been the deal since the very beginning. These are the things that matter to God. This is the top priority. Three basic foundational things. Act justly, love mercy, walk humbly with God.
Peace,
Allan
I just made good on my annual Silver Boot Series wager with Myles, a bet that I lose every single year, For the sixth straight season and the ninth time in ten years, his Astros took the Lone Star series over my Rangers by winning nine of the 13 games, including that demoralizing sweep a couple of weeks ago. The Whataburger burgers and shakes were on me. Again.
Valerie sent us this picture over the weekend of Elliott and Sammy making their own breakfast. Or something. Somehow one of them pulled the bread off the counter and had it pretty much all over the kitchen floor before they were caught. Sam looks like he’s frozen, not knowing yet whether what they’ve done is good or bad, but certainly feeling the tension. Elliott looks like he’s extremely proud of himself and the whole scene.
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