How
many of you have even been in court because of a lawsuit? If so, then the passage from
Micah 6:1-8 sounds very familiar. This passage resembles a lawsuit that is being
heard in court. Micah calls creation as a witness. The mountains, present
throughout all of Israel’s history, are called on as witnesses, because they
have “seen” all that the Israelites have done. God’s creation has witnessed the
relationship between God and His people, so it was well-suited to reach a just
verdict in this case.
God
questioned His people and gave them a chance to respond. God told of His
faithfulness to his people in the past and demands obedience to the covenant he
established with His people. The Israelites believed that God has wronged them.
He challenged them to provide evidence to support their claims. He directed the
events surrounding their flight from Egypt. When they remembered what He did
for them in the past, their faith was strengthened.
God
showed in this passage that he was willing to set things right. He was not
unjust to the Israelites, nor did He ask too much from them. He addressed them
tenderly and compassionately. He kept the promises He made.
On
the other hand, the Israelites did not keep their promises. Spiritual blindness
led them to offer everything except the one thing that God really wanted-a
spiritual commitment from their hearts. Right behaviour would have resulted
from this commitment. God isn’t interested in sacrifices. He is more concerned
with our attitudes. They come from the deepest part of our lives-our hearts-and
show themselves in positive actions toward God and His people.
God
displayed considerable emotion in His dispute with Israel. For the Israelites
to claim that God wearied them gave the impression that he did something to
make them impatient and disobedient. In reality, He had mightily delivered
them-from Egypt to Gilgal-in fidelity to His righteous nature and covenant
promises.
In
verses 6-8, Micah summarizes the laws of Moses into three commands. These few
things are what God truly desires of His covenant people, not innumerable
sacrifices offered without a commitment to faithful living. The word “mercy” in
the Hebrew language includes the idea of loyalty and faithfulness to God’s
promises. When we repent and walk with God, He will show us mercy. In fact, He loves
to show us mercy.
There
is a connection between forgiveness and obedience. Since Israel had experienced
a gracious remission of her sin of worshipping the golden calf, what sort of
people were they to be now? The logical question for them to ask would have
been, “What does God require of us?” The logical answer would have been the
same things God provided to the Israelites when they repented: mercy, justice
and humility. These things aren’t always easy to do. They are not one-time
accomplishments to be completed and checked off a list. They will help us
understand God’s heart, and in turn our own hearts will be shaped as we put
these things into practice.
Living in humility simply means living by faith. We are not to give in to the evil temptations in this world. We are not to sit around and do nothing. We are to move forward in faith. We are to live aggressively for the truth.
Today,
our society is in a situation that is similar to the situation the prophet
Micah wrote about. We have lost our ability to function in society the way God
wants us to live. He wants us to be a light to our world. People should be able
to look at us and see something wonderfully different about us-something
different that was created by our faith in Christ.
Some
time ago, someone wrote to Billy Graham and ridiculed Christians who talk about
things like sin and forgiveness. The writer said, “Why don’t you wake up and
realize that we’re free to live any way we want to? We shouldn’t feel guilty
when we follow our own desires. There’s no such thing as ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ in
my view.”
Here’s
part of Billy Graham’s reply:
“Do
you honestly believe there is no such thing as right and wrong? Frankly, I
seriously doubt it. Child abuse, poisoning the environment, hacking someone’s
bank account, cheating a neighbour, lying to your friends, murder…I can think
of a whole list of evils that you’d agree are always wrong.”
“But
why are they wrong? And why are some things like helping others or taking care
of the environment always right? Is it simply because society works better if
we act this way? The real answer is deeper than this. The real answer is that
God has told us how to live---and the reason is because He loves us, and He
knows what is best for us.”
We
can’t expect people to embrace a Saviour they know nothing about. We can’t
expect them to surrender to God when we as His servants are fighting with each
other. We are Christ’s eyes, ears, hands and mouthpiece. We have the
responsibility to live in such a way that others can see Christ in us.
We
are encouraged to sacrifice our own thoughts, our own conversations with
others, and our own business of minds. We need to sacrifice what is going on
within us right now to give ourselves in worship to God.
God
is the great helper. If we want to be more like Him, we will naturally grow in
our love to help people. We must not try to be like someone else. We must be
ourselves. We must think about how God has made us and how we can help others
with our unique personality and gifts.
Moving
forward in faith means spending quality, quiet time with God every day. This
involves prayer and reading His Word. Before we do this, we have to quiet
ourselves and our surroundings so we can hear what God tells us.
One
of the things God will tell us is His plan for our lives. Sometimes the plan
won’t make sense to us. Sometimes it will be uncomfortable or painful. If we
really walk with God, we will find contentment in spite of the pain His plan
gives us.
We
have a choice. We can live in the grasp of sin and evil, or we can give our
hearts over to Jesus. He gave everything He had, including his life, to rescue
us from sin, so it’s only fair that we give Him everything we have, including
our lives.
1.
Jeremiah,
David: The Jeremiah Study Bible, New King James Version (Brentwood, TN: Worthy
Publishing; 2013, p.1212)
2.
ESV Study
Bible. Part of Wordsearch 11 Bible software package.
3.
Kaiser, W.C.
& Ogilvie, L.J.: The Preacher’s
Commentary Series, Vol. 23: Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai,
Zechariah, Malachi (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.; 1992, pp. 69-71)
4.
MacArthur,
J.F. Jr.: The MacArthur Study Bible, New
American Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers; 2006)
5.
Stanley,
C.F.: The Charles F. Stanley Life
Principles Bible, New King James Version (Nashville, TN: Nelson Bibles;
2005)
7.
Stephanie
Davis, “A Real Chance at Happily Ever After.” Retrieved from Christainity.com@crosswalkmail.com
12.
Billy Graham, “Aren’t We Free to Win Any Way We Want?”
Retrieved from http://www.arcamax.com/healthandspirit/religion/billygraham/
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