Micah 6:8 He has shown you, O mortal, 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.
This is not going to be one of those new-fangled concepts that Christians have never heard before. Micah wrote these words between 742 and 687 BC. So let me give you the back story. Israel has ONCE AGAIN turned their backs on God and from what you read in the first few lines of this book (Micah 1:1-16) God is seriously angry. I don't know about you, but I get annoyed with Israel. I mean, they had God right here in their midst and they still wouldn't act right. Were they retarded?
So Israel has rebelled, again, and God sends Micah to warn the people that God would not tolerate their disobedience. Historically Israel would repent and offer sacrifices to make themselves right with God. Now they are being told by Micah that God didn't want them to appease Him with sacrifices, God wanted them to change their lives.
I find this so interesting, God doesn't want us to live in sin, just because we know that we can come back for forgiveness afterward. He doesn't want us to pay for the sins after the fact with a sacrifice, He wants us to act right!
I think that Christians today are just as bad as Israel, we have the Holy Spirit to guide us, we have the complete cannon of scriptures, we have the luxury or reading about others mistakes and applying those lessons to our lives, but here we are making the same exact mistakes. God hasn't changed, His laws haven't changed He is right here with us, but we still turn out backs on Him, over and over again.
Micah's words still apply to us. Jesus will return, and only those who choose Him whole-heartedly will escape God's wrath.
Micah 6:2 Attention! Let all the people of the world listen!
Let the earth and everything in it hear.
The Sovereign Lord is making accusations against you;
the Lord speaks from his holy Temple.
Look! The Lord is coming!
He leaves his throne in heaven
and tramples the heights of the earth.
The mountains melt beneath his feet
and flow into the valleys
like wax in a fire,
like water pouring down a hill.
1 comments:
This is so true. I've always thought of Israel as a sort of metaphor or prophetic picture of the human heart and condition. I've seen myself in Israel more times than I'd like to admit! As humans, we can be demanding, whiny, and frustrating!!! And yet look how God loves Israel even when He's annoyed with them, lol! He loves me with an everlasting love in spite of myself...thank you LORD! It's a continual journey to get one's heart right!!!
2/8/11, 5:45 PMPost a Comment