What Does God Really Want?

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.” (Micah 6:1)

Many of you are familiar with the words from Micah 6:8, above. There is even a song we used to sing at church whose words were simply those two sentences repeated over and over again. (If you grew up with that song, it is probably going through your head right now, and will be for some time - you’re welcome). Fewer people are familiar with the words and the context which proceed that that verse. Fewer still have taken time to really unpack what it means to live them out, to do justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly with God.  

What God is telling his people -- through the prophet -- is that he does not need sacrifices. Instead, they need a heart change. They need the internal transformation that only comes from a realization of who God is and what he had done for them; through his deep love for them demonstrated through justice, mercy and humility. Without that, they would be forever separated from him, forever separated from Shalom, enslaved and without hope . . . and so would we. 

When God’s reality begins to dawn within us, we cannot help but to be humbled as we realize His great love for us. As we begin to internalize His deep love for us, we will irresistibly be drawn to a way of life that reflects our savior’s heart of loving mercy, his passion to right the wrongs that break his heart. As we walk with him and live in his ways we will begin to become vessels of justice, mercy and humility in a world in deep need of all three. We will be able to live the way that he requires. As we do this, God promises -- through the prophet Isaiah -- that, “your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight. I will always show you where to go. I will give you a full life in the emptiest of places— firm muscles, strong bones. You’ll be like a well-watered garden, a gurgling spring that never runs dry.” (Isaiah 58:10–11 MESSAGE)

Peace, hope and love

Doug