What Does the Lord Require?
In the midst of interesting times, we have the privilege of tasting and seeing that the Lord is good. For all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to his purpose. Trials and tests are to prove his character in us. The world thinks that reproof is a bad word. However, reproof means to re-prove God’s power in us over and over. For tribulation worketh patience and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given to us.
Many Old Testament verses are applicable as we confront the trials of our present hour. Jeremiah 29:11-13 says, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.”
Jeremiah was called the “weeping prophet.” He had a heart of love to serve God’s people. His heart was broken because Israel had forsaken the word of the Lord. Jeremiah means “God’s elect.” God chose, called, and elected his prophet Jeremiah to declare that whom the Lord loves, he chastises. Because they had turned their hearts from God, Israel would be taken captive into Babylon.
In Jeremiah 24, God gave Jeremiah a vision about Israel and Judah. In the vision he saw a basket of rotten figs and a basket of good figs. According to Jeremiah 24:2-3: 2 “One basket had very good figs, even like the figs that are first ripe: and the other basket had very naughty figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad. God showed Jeremiah that the good figs represented the faithful believers who had been taken captive to Babylon. Despite their captivity for Israel’s forsaking him, God promised those faithful to his word that God would eventually return them back into the Promised Land. This promise is in verse 6: For I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up.”
God in his mercy and grace always allows room for repentance when His people return their hearts back to Him. The Old Testament book of Micah shows us how faith fits into a broken and corrupt society. When God seems distant, Micah reminds us that there is hope for those who approach the Lord with a broken and a contrite heart of repentance. When we stray from His Word, God loves us enough to discipline us for whom the lord loves, he chastises. The word of God is profitable for doctrine, for reproof and correction. To correct means to restore to an upright position. When are verticals are aligned according to His will, then our horizontals are much more enjoyable.
God will not allow sin to hinder his divine purpose. When nations and governments turn their hearts away from God and the truth of His word, God will allow the consequences of sin to bring a nation to its knees. In Micah the northern kingdom of Israel had turned their backs on God and his righteous laws. God allowed them to be taken captive into Babylon.
Likewise in our current times, 2 Timothy 3:2-5 describes men in the last days who have forsaken God and the righteous standard of his word: 2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.”
Micah wrote to the southern kingdom of Judah to warn them about the consequences of forsaking the Lord their God. The choice for those who have been called by God is truth or consequences.
According to Micah 6:6-8, “Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old?” The question is, how shall I approach a holy God. What can I do to appease him in order to stand in his presence? What sacrifice can I bring that is worthy as an approach offering? “Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
The answer is in Micah 6:8: “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” God doesn’t want your outward sacrifice. He wants your heart. He doesn’t want your vain ritualistic offerings of the blood of lambs, goats, and bullocks. He wants the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving from a pure heart of love and gratitude. He has shown us what is good. Good means “fit for the purpose for which the designer designed us.” God wants us to delight in the law of the Lord….. for blessed is the man who walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful nor standeth in the way of sinners. But his delight is in the law of the Lord and in His law doth he meditate day and night.
In the midst of trials and tribulations of this world, it’s easy to become disheartened and discouraged. The little obstacles of life are frustrating and steal our focus from the things of life that really matter. Therefore, guard thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. Unless we guard our hearts, the devil will use the distractions of this world to separate our hearts from God’s good purpose. The world’s definition of success is diametrically opposed to God’s purpose. The challenge of this life is to be careful when climbing the ladder of success. The greatest failure is that after a lifetime of climbing, we realize that our ladder was leaning against the wrong wall.
In a fallen world where men call evil good and good evil, the devil will take the truth of the word of God and twist it to his purpose. For the thief cometh not but for to steal, to kill and to destroy. However, Jesus Christ came that we might have life and have it more abundantly.
What does the Lord require of thee? What are the God’s requirements? Men think that success is tied to performance. Is anything we give to God worthy of his acceptance? God has the authority to claim that which he requires. For it is he that has made us and not we ourselves. Before we can approach a holy God, the requirement is that we come to him with a broken and a contrite heart. For in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. To approach the throne of God, we must forsake our pride. If God has to break our hearts in order to approach him, then thank him for breaking our hearts.
There are three things that God requires of us in order to approach him. The first is to do justly. To justify is to make right. Apart from Jesus Christ there is no justification. For he who was without sin was made the perfect sacrifice for sin on our behalf that we may be made the righteousness of God in him. To do justly is to live in the righteousness of Christ.
God’s second requirement is to love mercy. The nature of God himself is loving kindness and tender mercy. The love of God is the motive behind the actions to activate the spirit of God in Christ in us. For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision availeth anything, but believing faith that worketh in love.
The third and final requirement is to walk humbly with thy God. Humility means to forsake my own pride. My prayer is not to conform God’s will with my will, but to conform my will with His will and my heart with His heart. When we deliberately keep our hearts in proximity with our Lord Jesus Christ, walking in the light as he is in the light, the blood of Jesus Christ will cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The abundant life is to walk humbly with thy God.
To return to the Lord, we as individuals and as nations must forsake our pride, humble ourselves, pray, and turn from our wicked ways. Then when we approach our Lord with a broken heart of humility and meekness, we will hear from heaven and God will hear our prayer and heal our land…. That we might walk in fellowship with our Father and with our Lord Jesus Christ in the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. For what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
That we may live our lives to the praise of the glory of His grace!
Your brother in Christ,
Michael
