He Has Shown You

 With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God? 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 olive oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has shown 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 6:6-8 NIV)

As I read that scripture this morning during prayer time, I remembered verse eight as being my mother's favorite bible verse. She told me that on several occasions. When she passed away, I was tasked with connecting with her pastor about the service message and music. He ended up preaching Psalm 23. Don't get me wrong, I love that Psalm for its comfort. But to have preached on Micah would have been greatly more challenging. And it would have been much more comforting to me if the challenge would have been accepted. My mother did her level best to walk by that verse. 

This passage of scripture challenges us because it clearly states what God expects of us, and frankly, we sometimes sidestep it as Christians. Not always, but enough that we need to look deep into our hearts and see why we will offer other things to God. 

Micah asked what he should bring to atone for his transgressions. He asked a reasonable question. Under the old covenant, precise sacrifices were commanded for multiple reasons. Among the acceptable sacrifices were calves, rams, and olive oil. The firstborn male to open the womb was dedicated to the Lord. But in the book of Hebrews, the author writes that after the sacrifice of Jesus, we are no longer to approach God with the sin and guilt offerings of the old covenant for covering sin. Jesus made the ultimate and final sacrifice for sin. We can boldly approach the throne of grace by his blood. 

But for reasons I have yet to fully fathom, perhaps pride, we often approach God with the sacrifice of our works. Perhaps because of the words, "Faith without works is dead." But it's a very fine line between human faith works and Holy Spirit faith works. We do things because Christians ought to do them, true enough. We are well-intentioned. But it's so easy to do things God does not intend us to be doing. We ask for his blessings on our plans and follow through with them. Many preach that approach will lead to failure, but not always. Sometimes we succeed as we draw upon our own talents, grit, and prior experiences. We then decide we have done God's will. God is not going to be angry at us for doing that, but we cut ourselves off from the refreshing wind of the Holy Spirit we would experience as we go about doing exactly what God does intend for us as individuals and as churches. Instead, we grow weary of doing good, burned out, and even frustrated, which grieves the Lord for us. I can't tell you how many times I have fallen into that trap.

Micah's aha moment was from the Holy Spirit. He heard what God expects from us as our sacrifice:

 He has shown 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. (verse 8)

We cannot walk humbly with our God when we bring our own sacrifices. Jesus' sacrifice is ours. God expects us, in return, to work for justice for the poor, the widows, and the orphans. God is merciful and we are to be the same toward everyone we encounter, even the unlovable, the cruel, and the immoral whose sins may repulse you. Jesus is calling them to his mercy. Can we do any less?

The sacrifice we make to God is to walk as Jesus did during his life and ministry on earth. And he acted justly, he loved mercy and he walked humbly with his Father. He came bearing his sinless blood to the heavenly tabernacle and offered it there where it was accepted for all humanity, for all time. 

I admit I was initially challenged by this passage because of my mother. It intrigued me. But that is not enough. I need to embrace the challenge to the point I seek God earnestly for power to live it every day.

 He has shown you, O Susan, what is good...