Seeking Justice, Loving Mercy

"Seek justice. Love mercy. Walk humbly with your God.”

Micah 6:8 is one of those verses that many of us have heard, over and over, throughout our lives. It's almost a meme; we put it on posters, quote it in sermons, print it on T-shirts, paste it in flowey letters on our kitchen decorations.

But Micah 6:8 was never meant to be a marketing slogan. No, it actually comes at the end of a very uncomfortable conversation between God and His people.

Micah was a prophet speaking to Israel during a time when Israel had become very good at being religious while becoming increasingly bad at living out their faith. In Micah's time, the powerful were taking advantage of the vulnerable. Land and property were being accumulated by those who already had plenty; the poor were being pushed aside. Business practices were dishonest, leaders were corrupt, and the poor were exploited for the gain and comfort of the rich and powerful.

And yet, through it all, the people continued to worship God. The religious people of Israel still knew the rituals, still recited the written commands of the law, still observed the sabbath and the high holy day fasts. But they had turned away from the spirit of the law and thus from their connection with others in their community.

So, in chapter 6, Micah gives us a courtroom scene. God calls his people to account, and the mountains and hills are summoned as witnesses, as though they have been watching this relationship unfold from the beginning. God starts by reminding Israel of what he has done for them.

“Remember," God says. Remember Egypt and slavery and how I brought you out. Remember how I led you through those forty years in the wilderness. Remember how I rescued you when you could not rescue yourselves. Remember how your relationship with me began with my faithfulness to you, not your ability to follow rules.

The people of Israel respond by asking God: What do you want from us? Burnt offering? Sacrifices? Thousands of rams, rivers of oil? Our firstborn sons? We want to buy back your favor, God. Tell us what you want and we will give it.

But that isn't what God wants.

“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.”

And what does the Lord require?

“To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

God tells His people to become the kind of people whose worship of God changes the way they live with everyone else.

Act justly. Love mercy. Walk humbly with your God.

Take a moment to notice the verbs:

Act justly. Justice is not a belief. It is what we do. in the ways we structure our schools and churches, balance our budgets, feed those with no food, house those without roofs over their heads. 

Love mercy. We are to love mercy, all the time, in all places. We are to be a people who are drawn towards love, towards compassion, forgiveness, generosity, and kindness. 

And then, walk humbly with your God.

Walking. I love walking. Yet it is obnoxiously ordinary, devoid completely of dramatic religious experience. It's a movement embedded in the very sinews of our brain, deep in the ion channels of our nervous system. To walk humbly with God means that we are to move through the world with God, letting God shape how we interact with the world He placed us in.

Seek justice.

Love mercy.

Walk humbly with your God. 

Why? Because we must live differently because we belong to the God who rescued us.

This month on the Network, we will be exploring what it looks like to seek justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God. I am excited to see all of the ways that we can learn with and from each other on this journey of the Christian life.