Micah 6:8 (NIV): He has showed you, O man, 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.
The point that God was making through Micah was that all of the sacrifices that a person could possibly bring to Him could never substitute for willing obedience, not just to what He commands, but to who He is. The people were figuring that if they brought enough sacrifices, that God’s judgment on their wickedness could be bought off, even though their intent was to continue to walk on the same path that they had been walking.
The two greatest commandments underlie these three directives, and they specifically address the problem areas that were present in that society.
To act justly and to love mercy is nothing more than loving one’s neighbor as oneself. This is the only effective counter to the self-centered “looking out for number one” attitude that tends to permeate any society where life is generally easy, and where people’s hunger is not for righteousness, for a stronger relationship with God, but for luxuries, conveniences, and for leisure and entertainment. When these things become the focus (and they are in our culture today as much as they were in the Israel of Micah’s day), there will always be a rapid escalation of crime, self indulgence (shown the rise of self-centered crimes such as road rage, looting, rape, drug abuse, and many more), and lack of care about what happens to others. Personal agendas take the forefront, and people are willing to do “whatever it takes” to get ahead. The only corrective to this is a complete change of heart; a total transformation of the mind; a whole-hearted commitment to act justly and fairly in all areas of one’s life, and to be merciful to those who need mercy. Without that kind of solid decision, backed up by an immediate change of actions, a society’s days are numbered.
The other requirement, to walk humbly with God, can only be done by those who love Him with all of their hearts, souls, minds, and strength. When personal agendas take precedence over devotion to God, people are really engaging in idolatry, putting themselves and their agendas on a pedestal, and worshiping them. This kind of thinking exalts created things (people, plans, ideas, science) over the Creator. If you want to see where this kind of orientation will take a society, read Romans 1, or just take a look around at the rapid disintegration of our nation – it’s the same picture. The only solution to this orientation toward self is to restore the right order of things – to get God back into first place in our lives, and to put everything else below Him in importance. Again, without that kind of solid decision, backed up by an immediate change of actions, a society’s days are numbered.
It’s not too late for any society that is willing to stop, shake itself out of the self-centered sleep into which it has fallen, and open it eyes and ears to God.
Father, it’s easy to see that Your assessment of our society is right on the mark. I know that it is Your desire for us, at least for Your people in our nation, to turn back to You. But I also know that we must do this turning as an act of our own will. You won’t turn us, we have to turn ourselves. Keep calling to our hearts as loudly as You can. Keep applying all the pressure You can to our hearts and minds. Do whatever You can to help us before we pass the point of no return, as the Israelites did. Amen.