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“No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8
One of the most difficult things for any of us to do, is to meet the expectations of some people. Hard as we try some people are impossible to please. For some of us we have spent our entire lives trying to please others with an end result of being displeased with ourselves.
Trying to meet the expectations of other people, is the main reason that many of us lose our identity. We get so caught up in who we think we are supposed to be, that we forget who we are.
The expectations of others and ourselves are impossible to meet. Surprisingly, the expectations God has for us are relatively simple!
In this verse, God has three things of us. First of all to do what is right. Doing right means that we simply follow the life God has for us as exemplified by Jesus in the Bible.
Secondly, he asks us to love mercy. To love mercy means we realize the mercy he has for us and out of gratitude extend that mercy to other people.
Lastly, he asks us to walk humbly with him. To walk humbly with God simply means we realize that without him we are nothing, and with him, we are everything.
The easiest part about the expectations that God has for us, is that he has given us his Holy Spirit to guide us and encourage us and empower us to live for him.
He doesn’t expect us to be perfect! He simply expects us and asks us to live in his word and trust his ways.
“Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.” Hebrews 11:1
For some faith is like walking a tight rope with no safety net. Every step is calculated. Every step is a reminder that one slip and injury or death is certain. Faith becomes a walk of fear!
For others, Faith is like walking in the dark in unfamiliar territory. Each step carries questions. “Am I going the right way?” “Is there danger around the next corner?” “Will I make it through this?” Faith becomes a walk of caution.
Faith can also be like walking on ice. Like walking a tight rope, every step is calculated. Tiny steps are in order to keep from losing your balance. Unlike the tightrope walking on ice leaves you uncertain with every step. Some ice is easy to navigate. While with other ice It is impossible to get a firm grip. The problem is, often times you can’t tell the difference until it’s too late.
Faith can also be like a rocky path. You can see what’s ahead of you. It’s relatively easy to navigate as long as you go slowly. But often times, a rocky path is exhausting. With each step you face one more obstacle, one more question, one more decision about how to proceed.
The ultimate irony, is that in each of these situations your faith is strengthened when you realize that you’re not alone. True faith is only scary when you must travel those routes without any guidance.
That’s where faith in Jesus comes in. It’s easier to go through the struggles of life when we realize that they were sent for a purpose by loving God whose intent is not to destroy us but strengthen us, to lift us up not discourage us, to show us his love and not to abandon us.
Faith in Jesus brings confidence not concern, courage not fear.
“David replied, “I fasted and wept while the child was alive, for I said, ‘Perhaps the Lord will be gracious to me and let the child live.’ But why should I fast when he is dead? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him one day, but he cannot return to me.”” 2 Samuel 12:22-23
Although he was called a man after God’s own heart, David was far from the stellar example of spiritual or political leadership that any of us would aspire to.
His statements above, come as a result of a scandal he caused that would rival any political or religious scandal today. David had an affair with a married woman who got pregnant. He murdered her husband to try to cover up his actions.
Then, when confronted by a prophet of God, David was informed that the baby would get sick eventually die. God keeps his word. When the baby became sick David went into a state of mourning. He fasted. He prayed. He wept. He begged God for mercy, grace and forgiveness in hopes that the baby would survive. But it didn’t happen. The baby died.
Sometimes we pray and God doesn’t answer as we’d like. We pray. We plead. We beg. We bargain. We may even implement a prayer team on our behalf, but nothing helps. Here David teaches us a valuable lesson. Even in those times God disappoints us, we need to move on trusting his wisdom and knowing that as a sovereign God his way is best.
As C. S. Lewis said, “Life with God is not immunity from difficulties but peace within difficulties.” God may not answer the way we like, but he will always answer in a way that is best for us if we trust him. Difficult as it may be, when God says no we need to get up, brush the dirt from our knees, and move forward knowing that his way is best.
By the way, just a reminder, God gave David another son from the same mother. His name is Solomon. The wisest and richest man in the known world at that time. And if you look at the genealogy following David‘s line, later on from the same genealogy Jesus is born! God knew what he was doing.
“Then the Lord gave me this message: “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: The good figs represent the exiles I sent from Judah to the land of the Babylonians. I will watch over and care for them, and I will bring them back here again. I will build them up and not tear them down. I will plant them and not uproot them. I will give them hearts that recognize me as the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me wholeheartedly.” Jeremiah 24:4-7
Any of us who have followed God for any period of time know that sometimes he is very confusing. He promises to be with us and yet tragedies happen. He promises to love us yet at times he seems completely absent. He promises to protect and yet we get hurt.
The problem is, God does not think the way we think. His ways are not like our ways. He is not a God who thinks like a human.
In today’s passage, God sent the exiles into bondage (a very bad thing) so he could care for and restore them ( a very good thing).
Even though the Israelites don’t understand what was happening, in the long run they would see it was really in their best interest for God to bring them through the situation he was bringing them through.
We don’t always understand his working but we can always trust his results. So whatever struggles you’re going through today. Whatever has you afraid or anxious or confused, remember that all of this, for whatever reason, is in God‘s plan and he only wants his best for your life. He brought you through yesterday, you are here today, trust him with your tomorrow.
“Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ” Philippians 3:8
What is the most important thing in your life? Generally speaking, the thing that is the most important in our life is what we gain our identity from.
For some of us we would say that our most important thing is our children. For others it may be our career. For others it may be our social action activity. Still others may look at the future and may say the most important thing now is to prepare for the future by building a nest egg for our kids for college and for our retirement.
It’s important to realize that none of those things are bad things in anyway. The things that we have in this life are important. But the most important things are we what we are laying up for ourselves in eternity. Each of us will face eternity whether we believe in it or not. The important question is “how are we preparing for eternity?”
The apostle Paul put all of these things, relationships, finances, family, and careers in the same category as garbage! It isn’t that he doesn’t think they are important, he has just come to the realization in his life that the most important thing to him is his faith in Jesus Christ. Everything else may fall away but our faith will remain strong through every circumstance.
The fight for power, rights and control is never more evident than it is today. This fight is driven by emptiness, pain, and hatred. It shows itself in anger. There will be no peace this side of Heaven.
There will be no contentment until we grow deeper in Jesus. The deeper we go the more peace we gain. It’s much like mining for diamonds. We can stop in shallowness and enjoy the a few low quality diamonds or dig deep and get the best ones. The best diamonds are deeper and get better the deeper we go. Grow deep! Reap the best God has for you.
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 