"What does the LORD require of me?"

Micah 6:6-8

What does the LORD require of me, it is all-inclusive what does God require of you, not your neighbor who worships his golf membership or boat, not your family members, not even your pastor or priest, but you?  It’s not a new question but it is one that the enemy of your soul, the one Jesus refers to in John 10:10 as the thief, the deceiver wants you to never ask yourself.  And if you do (the deceiver) has a lot of religion to share with you about how you can earn God’s acceptance.

We stated that it is not a new question, and yes, it is a question often asked when we are in more trouble than it seems possible to escape from.  The people of Micah’s time were in trouble much like we are today; they like us had corrupt, immoral, and dishonest leaders, in government, in business, and in their religion.  Few prophets saw the future more clearly than Micah, in that he prophesied the fall of both Samaria and Jerusalem.  He told the leaders and the people about Jerusalem being destroyed and the Babylonian captivity and the return from exile.

Can you imagine the anxiety that would come with a Billy Graham, a man with that kind of integrity telling the nation God had given him a clear message about the United States of America being taken captive by a foreign nation that was going to do with us as they wished?  I will bet the farm that the churches could not hold the crowds, and the question would be asked, “What does the LORD require of us”?

These are the questions they were asking: “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?  Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil?  Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”  How can we make things right with a Holy God, is it enough to acknowledge your God?  That was the first question.  The second question is do I really need to meet the requirements of the Law of Moses?  The third question is does God really want my wealth?  And the fourth question is can I make restitution by sending my firstborn to the mission field where he is sure to die by some savage with a spear?

Now listen for these are God’s requirements, they are the same today as in the past, they are irrevocable, unchangeable and will come with great cost to all who follow them, but with that cost they will bring something you desire that money cannot buy, nor power, they will bring peace to your soul!

“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”  

My HCSB study Bible has this insight on page 1531; “The people already knew the good things that God required (see Ps 14:1,3, 37:31).  God’s interest was not in the offering but the offerer.  A person’s character and behavior mattered more to God than any gift they might bring.  People were to act justly under God’s standards.  They were to love faithfulness, treating one another with love and mercy.  They were to walk humbly with God as their constant companion (Gn 6:9), conforming their lives to His will.”

My testimony is religion will never get you to the place of doing this.  I was a religious Baptist, with no desire to love kindness and to walk humbly with God, till I entered into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  It is not I but Christ in me that gave my heart the desire “to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice