Micah 6:8, “No, O people, the LORD has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” NLT
“He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does Yahweh require of you but to do justice, to love lovingkindness, And to walk humbly with your God?” LSB
God always calls for repentance and living righteously. This passage presents Micah the prophet’s imagined courtroom, where God, the judge, has proven His case before the court, showing the injustice and deceit of Israel, whose own sin brought their affliction upon them, and appealing to the people to repent. It teaches us to shift from merely external religious performance to internal moral and spiritual integrity in our vertical relationship with our God and Savior. It is like a checklist for godly living as echoed in Proverbs 11:19, “Godly people find life; evil people find death.” That is pretty cut and dry. Evil people die without hope and miss out on the fullness of life, compared to those who are born-again and believe in Jesus Christ, who (John 11:25) has given eternal life. Then in Deuteronomy 10:12-13, Moses gives a summary that is easy to remember: “And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you? He requires only that you fear the LORD your God, and live in a way that pleases him, and love him and serve him with all your heart and soul. And you must always obey the LORD’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good.” We, I, need to remind myself every day of the gospel and that fact in living a cross-centered life in loving, following, serving, and obeying Him.
Micah 6:8 challenges us to examine whether we are living out what God requires of us, reflecting on whether we are compassionate, humble before God, and showing mercy to those who have wronged us. Showing mercy stops emotions of resentment and bitterness. What about not letting our ego take over our thoughts, actions, and words? As James 3:13 declares, “If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom.” Our perspective needs to be as 2 Corinthians 5:17 declares, “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”
Spurgeon applied the idea of how to walk humbly with your God (Blue Letter Bible, David Guzik Commentary) in one of his sermons which stated:
- Walk humbly when you are spiritually strong.
- Walk humbly when you have much work to do.
- Walk humbly in all your motives.
- Walk humbly studying God’s word.
- Walk humbly when under trials.
- Walk humbly in your devotions.
- Walk humbly between you and your brothers in Christ.
- Walk humbly when dealing with sinners.
Have you discovered who or what you really are in Christ? Then you will be humble, live rightly with integrity, show mercy one more time than you feel like it to someone, and be humble before our great God. This is what God requires of you and me today.
Listen to Help My Unbelief by Chris Tomlin (Official Audio)