Scripture:
Micah 6:5-8 NKJV
[5] O My people, remember now What Balak king of Moab counseled, And what Balaam the son of Beor answered him, From Acacia Grove to Gilgal, That you may know the righteousness of the Lord.” [6] With what shall I come before the Lord, And bow myself before the High God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, With calves a year old? [7] Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, Ten thousand 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 shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?
Observation:
I was wondering what to write about this morning. I was drawn to this scripture. The question I had for myself was what love looks like. After reading these few verses, I can see how GOD painted a picture for me. The first verse seems to be out of place for the question that I asked myself, but if you look at the last few words in it, you can see that they are not. The statement that I’m looking at is this… “that you may know the righteousness of the LORD.” We all know where that righteousness is found and described, and although we may study GOD’S word, do we really know HIS righteousness? The word “know” tends to have a little deeper meaning than just some casual knowledge of something, especially in this context it refers to an intimate understanding of something. To get that, we need to dive a little deeper into this position of scripture and… well… all of scripture. But right now, let’s look at what is in front of us. In verse 6, Micah presents a question just so that we can truly understand our sinful nature. What do we really have to offer GOD? If we understand HIS righteousness even a little bit, we have to know that ourselves is not sufficient. The question immediately swings to burnt offerings because Micah knew in all of his righteousness he is but dirty rags. Ten thousand burnt offerings would simply not be enough. So what I see being said here is there is really no room for any kind of self-righteousness… in and of ourselves, we have no hope to truly come into the presence of the LORD Almighty. But Micah does have an answer to the original question that was presented this morning. In verses 5-7, GOD paints a picture of our condition, and the sacrifice of bulls and goats will never be enough to cover our sins. In my mind, HE is painting a picture of the cross. Where true love was shown. In verse 8, that love is presented in a way that we can understand it. Micah wants his readers and us for all that matters to understand that just because their best efforts are not good enough doesn’t mean that GOD’S love changes. However, that doesn’t mean running with reckless abound after sin is the answer. The last phase in the scripture we need to look at to understand what is honestly being said. “Walk humbly with your GOD.” To walk humbly, you have to understand who you truly are… that’s the point of all this. Knowing who you are and knowing GOD righteous requirements leaves us with only one answer.
Application:
I want to take us to a story in Act Chapter 9 about a man who thought he was doing the right thing. He had gotten a litter to drag the followers of Jesus off to prison and execution. His self-righteousness had brought him to the point of no mercy. He had studied the law but did not know the answers that he thought he did. I posed a question at the beginning of all this that I wanted to answer once Paul was knocked to his back and saw the risen SAVIOR. He knew the righteousness of GOD and was confronted with who he really was. Humbled by the experience, mercy, and grace became his banner. Because he knew that Jesus, the one whom he was persecuting, had not only given HIS life for all those whom Paul was dragged off to die but for Paul as well. Not to the point of all of this. What does love look like….? It looks like no hope in ourselves. Knowing who we are without Jesus is a must. When we are confronted with our sinful nature, do we understand that we are in the same boat as everyone else, or do we think that somehow our righteousness is going to out shine their’s. Knowing who we truly are is walking humbly with GOD the Father. We were born naked. HE knows our flaws, and HE sent HIS only son to die for us so that HE could have a relationship with us. Do you want to know what love looks like… that is it! It looks like John 3:16-18. HE loves us enough to die so that we would not have to be condemned to an eternal hell and all of that in spite of our sinful nature. Showing the same grace you have been given and knowing who you truly are will help you walk humbly with the one who knit you together in the womb. We are no better, nor are we any worse than our neighbor. Doing the next right thing is what it looks like to love GOD back, even if that next right thing is to admit your wrongs and do what you can to correct them.
Prayer:
Father, I pray this morning that we understand the love that you showed us when you gave your life so that you could have a relationship with us. We do not take that lightly and only hope that we have a clear picture of who we are and in light of that, who you are and the price you paid for us. We know that at our best, we have no hope. Without you, we are left in our sins. But you built a bridge after we had burnt it. You painted beauty from ashes. You made a way where there was no way to help us to be merciful, graceful, and loving to our neighbors just as you are to us. We want your kingdom here on earth. The harvest is ready. Now send the workers. It’s in the mighty name of Jesus we pray, amen.