“He has showed you, O man, 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 NIV84)

They were difficult days when Micah was a prophet of God to the people. The Northern Kingdom had fallen to Assyria and the people had been scattered among the nations. Babylon was about to take the Southern Kingdom into captivity. Much of Micah’s prophecy was to tell the Southern Kingdom of God’s coming judgment. Yet, there was a ring of hope in the words of Micah. In a look to the future he says, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths. . .. All the nations may walk in the name of their gods, but we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever.” (Micah 3:2,5)

In order for the people to walk in the path and walk in the name of the Lord, they must know what God is asking of them. What does God require? Micah answers the question by saying, “He has showed you, O man, 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 NIV84) Their actions are to be filled with justice and mercy, shown because of their love. However, the quality of this lifestyle is based on humility.

The life we are to live as we follow Jesus Christ is lived in humility. We do not deserve the salvation which God has given to us by His grace. We are humbled by the actions of God to bring us to our new life in Him, which comes to us because of Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul would say about Jesus, “And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:8) The very fact that Jesus died in our place for our sins as one of us should fill us with humility. Jesus is God the Son and as God, He demands justice. In taking our sin to the cross He meets the sentence for sin, death.  In His resurrection, He is able to offer grace.  

We are sinners by our nature, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) Jesus is God from the beginning. “The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. . . . For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him.” (Colossians 1:15-16, 19) Then through His love for us, He took our sin and died our death, all so that we could come into a relationship with God. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)

We now come back to Micah and his hope for the future. That hope was for God’s own to walk with Him in all humility. We are to live our lives because we know from where we have come. We are to live our lives as we look to the future with God and the promise of eternity. We are to live each and every day because we know God’s grace. Therefore, we walk through the days with God because Jesus humbled Himself to redeem us. We now can walk through the days with humility and gratitude, because God satisfied His justice, and offers to us His mercy and love.  

In the Love of Jesus,

Michael Block