Day 671: Micah 6- Walking With God

Hear what the Lord says:
Arise, plead your case before the mountains,
    and let the hills hear your voice.
2 Hear, you mountains, the indictment of the Lord,
    and you enduring foundations of the earth,
for the Lord has an indictment against his people,
    and he will contend with Israel.
3 “O my people, what have I done to you?
    How have I wearied you? Answer me!
4 For I brought you up from the land of Egypt
    and redeemed you from the house of slavery,
and I sent before you Moses,
    Aaron, and Miriam.
5 O my people, remember what Balak king of Moab devised,
    and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him,
and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal,
    that you may know the righteous acts of the Lord.”
What Does the Lord Require?
6 “With what shall I come before the Lord,
    and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
    with calves a year old?
7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
    with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
    the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
8 He has told you, O man, what is good;
    and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
    and to walk humbly with your God?
Destruction of the Wicked
9 The voice of the Lord cries to the city--
    and it is sound wisdom to fear your name:
“Hear of the rod and of him who appointed it!
10     Can I forget any longer the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked,
    and the scant measure that is accursed?
11 Shall I acquit the man with wicked scales
    and with a bag of deceitful weights?
12 Your rich men are full of violence;
    your inhabitants speak lies,
    and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.
13 Therefore I strike you with a grievous blow,
    making you desolate because of your sins.
14 You shall eat, but not be satisfied,
    and there shall be hunger within you;
you shall put away, but not preserve,
    and what you preserve I will give to the sword.
15 You shall sow, but not reap;
    you shall tread olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil;
    you shall tread grapes, but not drink wine.
16 For you have kept the statutes of Omri,
    and all the works of the house of Ahab;
    and you have walked in their counsels,
that I may make you a desolation, and your[g] inhabitants a hissing;
    so you shall bear the scorn of my people.”
 
Meditation
God’s grace invites us to walk in a newness of life (Romans 6:4). With a secure identity as children of God, we walk in love as Christ loved us and gave Himself for us (Ephesians 5:1-2). To walk with God is to worship God with all our lives, restoring His garden design and re-directing all of life for His glory.
 
Israel had walked with the pagan gods of the land (16) and God was holding them accountable. Israel’s fellowship with false gods fueled a fractured society marked by violence, infertility, injustice, and lies. The Lord’s love for His people leads Him to confront their rebellion and point them to restoration through His discipline (9-16).
 
The indictment in verses 1-5 sets up the heart of this section, the righteous reflection of a life that walks with God. Religion is not the requirement for overwhelming sacrifices in worship with lives that do not match the gesture (6-7). The Lord wants the hearts of His people and lives that look like His character lived out in society: Justice, steadfast love, and humility walking with God (8).
 
God redeems His people, through Jesus, for relationship, not empty religion. God is not concerned with large gestures of generosity, sacrifices in worship offered to appease a sin sick conscience. Rather, in view of God’s mercy, we present our bodies as a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1-2) and walk in love as we have been loved.
 
Richly Dwelling
-What stands out to you about the invitation to walk with God?
 
-Do you walk with the Lord or with the gods of our culture? Asked another way, does the fruit of your life look like you walk with God, embodying His character with your lips, life, labor, and love?
 
-Christ loved you and gave Himself for you. How does His grace fuel a faithful response to walk in love, with Him and looking like Him?
 
Key Verse
8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?