Micah 6:6-8 NKJV
Have you ever disobeyed God? Before you answer, remember Rom. 8:23: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Micah continued to prophesy about God’s controversy with His people; they failed to obey Him and live righteously as He demanded.
In this passage Micah showed Israel, the defendant in this symbolic courtroom narrative, asking questions about the kind of offerings to bring before the Lord in worship. They have just been sharply reprimanded for being ungrateful to God who graciously cared for them and protected them from the curses of Balaam. At this point Israel appears to be deeply concerned about how they may humbly please God and turn His anger from them to avoid His pending judgments. “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” (v.6)? “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” (v.7)? Do these questions truly reflect inward repentance or mere outward devotion? Israel couldn’t please God in the flesh with costly, sacrificial rituals to make up for sin, and neither can believers today. God wants sincere and obedient hearts of love.
As the imaginary court continued, the prophet responded to the questions: “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” (v.8)? Today, are you walking according to God’s righteousness?