Micah 6:6-8 (NKJV)
“With what shall I come before the LORD, And bow myself before the High God?
Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, With calves a year old? 7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, Ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 8 He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you. But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?”
Micah was the prophet of the downtrodden and exploited people of the 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. In the mid of his discourse, he literally throws his hands in the air and asks, good God almighty what do you require from us? I believe you have asked that before. God’s answer is in verse 8 – do justly, love mercy and walk humbly before Him. We have looked at the last two in the past and this week I’m turning my attention to the 1st one – do justly.
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
Last time, I wrote that an unconverted person is totally incapable of producing this kind of righteousness. In Micah, God has brought his people to court and presents an unanswerable case against them. As God brings the charges against them as in a court of law, they were wondering what they can bring to their King to please Him. He concludes that authentic worship consists of dealing justly with other people, showing mercy and walking humbly before God. There are a lot of us who love justice more than mercy. But I realize that a lot of times those who cry loud for justice to be done will soon be begging for mercy if justice were done to them.
One of the greatest tragedies of our society today is that we have the tendency to think that people are either good or bad, whereas in reality we’re generally a combination of all. We have to understand that bad people do good things and good people do bad things. By all means, be just, but learn to show mercy. Even God shows mercy in His wrath and mercy always triumphs over judgment.
Micah ends his discourse by saying in verse 18 of chapter 7 that as just as God is, He still pardons iniquity and delights in mercy. Not only does God forgive sins, but He casts them into the depths of the sea. I understand that sometimes there is no point trying to rehabilitate a predator, you have to cut them off. But, often than not, people need mercy from us – not justice. God requires us to act justly. Easy task, but it’s hard to make that a reality. May God give us the grace to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly.
I’ll leave you for now. If we don’t meet again, I’ll see you at the dinner table in Papa’s house.
Pastor King