“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 6:8
For a time being, we usually think what are really the right things to do? We often reflect and even try to find out personally if what we are doing is right or wrong. Morals and values often vary in different cultures, different teachings and even different principles. So, most of the time what is right for others is wrong for you and what is good to others is bad for you.
Now, given all those realities in check, our verse today is very the same to our reality right now. In the time of Micah, the Israelites were doing so many things and asking God if that is the right thing to do or if that pleases God. However, God replied to all their questions with a firm answer. God told them that they already know what’s good because God has shown it to them. Yet, God still remains patient and gave them an answer that sums up the whole commandments of God.
This situation just shows how human beings tend to deliberately act blind. We tend to act obnoxious and ignorant of things we already know. God has indeed shown the Israelites what is good for He already gave Moses the ten commandments and by that time, it was their basis. However, why do they continue to ask God on what is right and good thing to do? Why do they continue to ask God’s approval for anything because they think what they did was good and right, when they can just do it instantly because they already have the standards?
Well, as human as we are, we often reject what our God asks us to do. If what God wants us to do does not fit to the things we want to do, we tend to turn a blind eye and act like we did not know anything. It is by nature hard for us to follow an instruction and command. Thus, making the Israelites that time very disobedient because they should’ve known already. They should’ve known what God wants them to do but still, they are suggesting many things to God, hoping that it is the right thing to do.
However, on the other hand, despite the hardheadedness of the Israelites, God was still patient to them. He has given them answers that completely sums up His commandments. It is to act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with Him. God is indeed the God who delights in holiness and He does not want us to become people who are completely swallowed by sins, that is why He sent His Son to die for us.
Now, since at the time of the Israelites their basis of doing what is right and doing what is good is the ten commandments, our basis now is Jesus Christ. We are indeed called to act justly in a manner that we should know how to distinguish what is right or wrong. We should not let our principles, our morals and cultures only define what we think is right or wrong but we should think objectively and base it on the Word of God and the life of Christ.
We are also called to love mercy. We are creatures who are not fond of showing mercy but under mercy. Thus, God wants us to love mercy and to show mercy to the people who have wronged us just as how He showed us His mercy despite all of our trespasses. God wants us to love mercy because through mercy we have our salvation in Christ. We are at the feet of Christ’s mercy and we are only saved because God chose to have mercy on us and sent His Son. We too are expected to show the same mercy to those people who wronged us.
Lastly, God wants us to walk humbly with Him. This sums it all up because as we walk always with the Lord, we are directed to the path He wants us to take. We are directed to His path and through it, we are always reminded of what we need to do and what are the good things to do. Walking with Jesus is very important because through it, we will be imitating His life and that is what God wants us to do. Therefore, we must always walk with Jesus and delight in His holy presence for we are already saved through Him and have been clothed in His perfect righteousness.
May we always remember this reminder. Let us not blindly and deliberately disobey God but instead, let us always follow what He wants us to do. We should always walk with Christ and imitate His life. May we not forget to act justly, show mercy and to walk with God always through meditating on His Word day and night!
