What Does the Lord Require
A Long Obedience: Part 1
Micah 6:1-8
October 11, 2026
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He has told you, human one, what is good and what the Lord requires from you: to do justice, embrace faithful love, and walk humbly with your God.
~ Micah 6:8
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We often hear the call to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God, but I wonder if it has become so familiar we’ve lost its weight in the context of Micah’s prophetic word.
One of the rhetorical tools in prophetic writing is the divine lawsuit, and in this case, God is bringing a case against Israel for her unfaithfulness. In verses 3-4, God cries out: “My people, what did I ever do to you? How have I wearied you? Answer me! I brought you up out of the land of Egypt; I redeemed you from the house of slavery.”
In other words, I have been faithful to you. I have protected you. I have made you into a great nation. You have everything you could ever want. So why do you continue to chase after other gods? Why do you continue to build your kingdom on violence, greed, exploitation and corruption? Why are you still not content?
What I find even more interesting is the people’s response in verses 6-7:
With what should I approach the Lord and bow down before God on high? Should I come before him with entirely burned offerings, with year-old calves? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with many torrents of oil? Should I give my oldest child for my crime; the fruit of my body for the sin of my spirit?
In response the prophet declares, “God has already told you!”
Like us, they are all too familiar with the Lord’s basic desire for justice, faithfulness, mercy, and humility. And like us, they seem to be willing to do almost anything else to avoid having to fulfill this simple calling. We’ll bring more offerings, better offerings, thousands of rams, torrents of oil. We’ll even give up our oldest child.
Our offerings might look different today, but we are essentially giving the same response. We’ll donate generously to causes that never ask us to change how we live. We’ll argue for hours online about who is right and never sit across the table from someone we’ve actually hurt. We’ll support overseas missions and never talk to the people in our own neighborhood. We’ll do anything God… just tell us.
“Justice… Mercy… Humility…”
Anything God, but that.
Weekly Practice: Simplify
We try to make following God so complicated. This week, choose one.
Justice - Make one thing right with someone that you’ve been avoiding.
Mercy - Reach out to someone struggling with something difficult.
Humility - Pick one disagreement and listen without needing to win the argument.
Let’s get back to the basics.