"He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God?"
I've thought about this verse from the prophet Micah a bit; I'm always one to like a clear instruction, especially one relating to how to please God. Good with lists: that's me. There's something so self-satisfying in being able to check off the good things I've done. The problem is that self satisfaction is an oxymoron; at its best it's fleeting; at its worst it's a merciless treadmill of trying to create and do more and more things that make me feel like I'm good.
When I look at what Micah actually SAYS though, it's exactly the opposite of trying to please God through my own goodness. Check out this preceding passage:
With what shall I come before the LORD
and bow down before the exalted God?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousand rivers of oil?
Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
I hear Micah saying that it's not about all the sacrifices I can make; it's about throwing myself at God's mercy, and loving Him for it: realizing and living out that mercy trumps everything else, especially in things like judgement and justification of myself. To know that I just don't (and can't) quite cut it, but God loves me anyway... That is satisfaction!
