What Does God Require of Us?
“He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” Micah 6:8
Over the years of teaching teenagers in Sunday school class, I have heard the question “What does God want me to do with my life?” several times. On the surface, it seems like such a deep question. For some, it weighs heavily on their minds as they approach high school graduation. For some, it is not even a second thought. And for a small segment of the population, it is something they have figured out for several years already. So, what’s the answer? Is it some deep dark secret that is only revealed to a select few? Is it something that God says we just have to figure out on our own? Hardly.
God knows better than anyone that we have only one chance at life. We don’t get to try over and over to get our lives perfect. The Bible even refers to our life as a vapor. Here today and gone tomorrow. (James 4:14) For us humans, life is short and we have no idea when it will end. Therefore, it doesn’t make sense for us to think that God is going to leave us in the dark as to how we can live life to the fullest. In fact, God has completely laid it all out to us.
In Micah we see the recipe for life. I am going to paraphrase. Live justly. Love mercy. Walk humbly with God. Life simplified to three simple steps. You can’t get much easier than that. Let’s look at these steps one by one.
First, live justly. Justice means to do what the positive law requires. In the words of my mama, “Do what your told.” God gave us His law on how to live. We know what’s right and what’s wrong. We are to follow the law in its entirety. We should not pick and choose which laws we agree to follow or which situations we should follow them in. God’s law is black and white. There is no in between. There is no gray area. We should strive to keep all of God’s law all the time. Not just when it benefits us.
Second, love mercy. Mercy is the act of not giving someone what they deserve when they have done wrong. If a person wrongs you, forgive them. Jesus said to turn the other cheek. (Matthew 5:39) Forgive them seventy times seven. (Matthew 18:22) We need to strive, as best we can, to share mercy with each other. Spread love to one another rather than revenge. God said vengeance belongs to Him. (Romans 12:19) This is probably the hardest of the three steps to accomplish because, in our world, mercy is considered a weakness not a strength. God instructs in Proverbs 25: 21-22 that we should treat our enemies well. In doing so, we will heap coals of fire on their head. Is this literal? No. It is referring to drawing your enemies attention to their own actions, to the point that they are ashamed for how they have been acting. This feeling of being ashamed can then, in turn, help them to act better in the future rather than being even more vengeful.
Lastly, walk humbly with God. You could almost consider this as a 2 for 1 deal because not only does He command that we walk with Him, but we are to do so humbly. This is hard, as we often have difficulty walking with God and not on our own. We typically want to have our way about things. We want what we want and we want it when we want it. So, when God’s way is not our way, something has to give. And, if you are like me, I don’t like to give in. Notice a few lines above that I said this step could ALMOST be considered a 2 for 1 deal. It is not a 2 for 1 because I don’t believe anyone can fully walk with God without humility at some point. If you have not and will not give your daily walk in life to Him, you are not walking with Him. You are simply walking around Him. It’s similar to driving a car on an interstate. There are cars all around you but they are not “with” you. They are going their own way and it just happens to be similar to your way at that moment in time. However, if you have family or friends inside your car, they are “with” you because ya’ll are going the same route to the same destination at the same time. That is how our lives should be with God. He should be the driver of your life. And you should be going to the same destination at the same time as Him. The humble part comes in when you don’t act like the worst back seat driver known to man. Give God the wheel. Let God drive. You enjoy the ride.
If we are willing to follow the simple three step process that God lays out for us through Micah, we can be certain that everything else will fall into place as God desires. If it is what God desires, we can know it is what is best for us. Do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.