Micah 6&7

I heard this song this morning and it touched my heart. Specifically, I love the verse that the young lady sings towards the end. Micah 6:8, "Seek justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God." With that verse swimming in my mind, I decided to read Micah 6 and 7 again. These two chapters struck me as being incredibly relevant to our society.

In this part of Micah, you see the Lord's accusation of Israel. Once again, the chosen nation has turned away from its God and has forgotten the awesome acts of mercy that have saved them in the past. The writer hears the Lord's accusations and knows that he is guilty. He pleads with God, what can I do to make you love me again? What do I need to give you? He asks God which sacrifice would be necessary. Barrels of oil? Costly livestock? His own son? He offers God everything that God does not need and nothing that God wants.

God's reply is simple. He wants a faithful people. He wants his chosen nation to seek justice, love mercy, and to walk humbly with Him.

Still, the people seek to find their fulfillment elsewhere, but it is not successful. Micah 6:14-16:

You will eat but not be satisfied;
   your stomach will still be empty.
You will store up but save nothing,
   because what you save I will give to the sword.
You will plant but not harvest;
   you will press olives but not use the oil,
   you will crush grapes but not drink the wine.

The writer continues to talk of the corruption all around him. Everyone is corrupted from the nation's leader to his own wife. He is crying out against the evil around him, but his voice is so small among the crowds. Yet,

But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD,
   I wait for God my Savior;
   my God will hear me. 

Do not gloat over me, my enemy! 
   Though I have fallen, I will rise. 
Though I sit in darkness, 

   the LORD will be my light. (7:7-8)

How can this man, surrounded my evil, watching his nation suffer rightly due to their own sin, have such hope? Because he has walked with his God. He proclaims at the end of the book the reason for his hope-- He can have hope, because he knows who his God is.

Who is a God like you, 
   who pardons sin and forgives the transgression 
   of the remnant of his inheritance? 
You do not stay angry forever 
   but delight to show mercy. 
You will again have compassion on us; 
   you will tread our sins underfoot 
   and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea. 
You will be faithful to Jacob, 
   and show love to Abraham, 
as you pledged on oath to our ancestors 
   in days long ago. (Micah 7:18-20)


Today, I know that it is easy to look around and see the corruption of our world. It is easy to see how even those of the Church have strayed away from their God. But today, I challenge us to seek justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God, because then we will have the hope that comes from knowing the person of our God and knowing that He will always be faithful to us, no matter how unfaithful our world becomes.