What The Lord Requires!

"He has shown you, O mortal, 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"(Micah 6:8 NIV).

Whenever God is getting ready to do something extraordinary, He finds those who are willing to hear Him and speak what He says. Through the prophets of old and those who "speak" as God speaks to them now, He never does anything without giving us fair warning. The problem is--like those of old who went into captivity--we choose not to hear those God is using to warn us and when calamity hits--we blame God.

Listen to the prophet Micah! God has shown us what is good and acceptable in His sight--those things that we mere mortals can do and what we receive from obedience. What does the Lord require of us? To act justly--without bias due to disagreement, to love mercy--willing to forgive those who have violated a trust or committed a wrong against us, and to walk humbly before God--not thinking we are better than any other human being.

Are we listening? Do we understand what the Lord requires? Based upon my observations--especially on social medias--we have not heard, we are not listening, and we are certainly not doing what the Lord requires. There is such hatred spread in cyberspace for those with whom people disagree--by those who claim to be Christians. The fact that they can hate so openly, exposes them for the liars they are and who their daddy is--Satan. Where is the justice we show to those who disagree with us? Our opinions of them are bias and we allow that bias to grow into disdain and hate. The very words we write and the "cartoons" we use to depict our growing disdain reveals our true inner selves. Where is the mercy? There is little displayed towards those in elected positions--the leaders in authority. Were we not told to pray for those in authority so we might live a peaceful life? Obviously, we are not praying for those in authority because we're spending too much time, denigrating those in authority--unable to mask the hatred that dwells within in our hearts.

Then we dare to attempt to think ourselves better than others--claiming the name of Jesus, but actually demoralizing who Jesus is with our behavior. Jesus commanded us to "love one another" as He loves us. We cannot love someone and spew hate about them at the same time. Doing so makes us hypocritical and a liar. We cannot serve God and Satan at the same time--we either magnify and honor one or the other with our deeds, but we cannot honor both.

Micah and the rest of the prophets had a great deal to say--warning the people of impending disaster, but people didn't listen then and they are certainly not listening now. When God was silent for over 400 years, the people were miserable--because they chose not to heed those speaking--and refused to change their behavior.

God is yet warning, yet requiring us to act with justice, mercy and humility. Are we hearing Him? Will we ever do what He says in order to see what He has promised us as a nation or will we just complain and undermine the authority of leaders by promoting hatred? God help us all!

Father, in the name of Jesus, we pray for leadership all over the world. We ask You to speak to their hearts, giving them a word of wisdom and direction so all may live in peace and honor You. Fill them with love overflowing and stop the mouths of those who promote hatred against them. Lord, Your will be done in the lives of all--preparing us to reap what we have sown in the earth. Forgive us for our foolish and rebellious attitudes and help us to see You in Your glory so all we do, magnifies You and not us. Thank You for giving us chance after chance to get it right. Amen!