What I’m Thinking: Clarity

We often complain about how difficult it is to follow God’s direction. What do we do when it’s clear?

Here’s a transcript:

I’m thinking about the sixth chapter of the prophet Micah (Micah 6:1-8). Micah was a contemporary of Isaiah of Jerusalem. The two of them lived in calamitous and conflicted times.

The Assyrian Empire ended the existence of the northern Jewish Kingdom, Israel, during that time. They besieged Jerusalem and only dropped the siege when there was some kind of disease that afflicted the Assyrian army in their camps. But the messages of Isaiah and Micah are not simply about invasions and political turmoil. The messages of Isaiah and Michael were also about the conduct of the people and particularly the leadership of Jerusalem and of Judah.

In Micah here in chapter six Micah seems to say that the people were relying upon their worship practice to maintain their relationship with God, that they were following the rituals of sacrifice, that they were attending the proper services, that they were carrying out the proper festivals, but that, said Isaiah, said Micah, (said pretty much nearly all of the prophets at one time or another): that is not God’s first desire, God’s first requirement of the people of God.

And so we come to that famous eighth verse of chapter six: “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice and steadfast love and to walk humbly with your God?”

It seems so simple, but if there is anything that history has shown us it is that human beings, given that simple direction, choose more complicated paths. I mean, is there anything that we prefer to our own self-importance and pride? That we walk with our noses in the air? We walk with hubris with our God.

And is there anything that we can say about human beings, that we prefer privilege to justice — as long as it’s our privilege.

As for steadfast love, we keep looking to God as an example of that. And we do find it also among human beings, but when we do, we call them saints. Friends, long before Jesus God asked us all to be saints: to do justice, to bring steadfast love, to walk humbly with our God.

Well, if we didn’t do it yesterday, today is a new day, and tomorrow awaits: To do justice, steadfast love, and to walk humbly with our God.

That’s what I’m thinking. I’m curious to hear what you’re thinking. Leave me your thoughts in the comment section below. I’d love to hear from you.