Hope


He has showed you O man what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly, to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:8

“And what does the Lord require of you?” Here in Micah the difficult answer is stated so simply and succinctly. We are required to act justly, mercifully and to stay close to God. When Jesus came to walk among us he put it in even simpler terms. Love your Lord and love your neighbor. It doesn’t get any easier to understand than that but it is very hard to do. What’s more, we are required to do it. So what’s the problem? It’s hard!

To act justly… but what does that look like? How do I behave when I am acting justly? Is this the stuff of the golden rule? So if my brother or sister treats me with contempt should I assume that is how they would like to be treated? That doesn’t make sense. Justice is a tough call. Too many things have to be taken into consideration. Okay, I’ll get the rest going and come back to acting justly.

Love mercy…. Yes, of course I love mercy, when it is being showered all over me, I love it. When I have to give it I’m not so sure. When I give it and someone accuses me of going easy on an offender I’m about to get fed up with the whole thing. Still mercy may be my strongest suit here. While I’m all for accountability I prefer to show mercy rather than judgment. Who am I after all to withhold forgiveness? Mercy is good to get and to give.

Which brings us to walk humbly with your God…. The simple idea of walking with God is pretty humbling but then by walking with God he enables me to do amazing things, things I would never consider doing. Those things when viewed by others earn praise or compliments. I do not want to be falsely humble but I also do not want one ounce of credit for something that is God’s doing. Not only that but pride is a nasty, pesky thing. It slips in when and where you least expect it. One minute I’m doing just fine walking humbly with God and the next minute I’m all puffed up about something that had nothing to do with me in the first place. Ah, humility, the recognition that apart from my Savior I am nothing. Are we full circle yet? I hope so because I’m getting tired.

Oh right love my neighbor. Not a problem if she stays over there where she belongs but when she comes around butting in my life, that’s a different story. Not to mention that neighbor who is actually a member of my church who just rubs me the wrong way or that co-worker who seriously does not own a smile. Oh Heaven help me! In one brief instant, I did not act justly, I judged. I did not love mercy I preferred harshness and add to that pride made me see myself as better than my neighbor. Is there any hope for me?

Yes, praise God there is great hope for me and it comes in the form of a Savior who knows that I would never quite grasp the meaning of justice or mercy. He knows that I take one humble step forward and fifty-five prideful steps back and he loves me anyway. There is hope for me because my Savior lives and he loves me, flaws and all.
So what is actually required of me? Just what it says in Micah, to do all of those things to the best of my frail human ability, to lean on my Lord for strength and to know that his mercy is new every time I fail. Failure is not a problem as long as I keep getting up, dusting off and trying again. Each try brings me a little closer to the goal and all the way there my Lord will work on me.



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