Micha 6:8

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


Through the prophet, God speaks to his people about the right way to worship. The people had come to worship him with their burnt offerings, with their olive oil, even the mention of offering a firstborn for their transgressions was mentioned as a possibility. Of course, Moloch was a Canaanite god associated with child sacrifice, but there were times when the Israelite’s were influenced by this offering choice. Ahaz, king of Judah offered his son to this god in 2 Kings 16:3. We are appalled at this type of worship to a god, but we cannot be so judgemental. We must ask ourselves if we worship God in the way God requires. There are those who place their holiness in external rites, in what appears as piety. God requires something very different from us who worship him. His law is good, otherwise Moses would not have delivered God’s commandments to the people. Here the prophet adds to the law: “do justly, to love mercy (or kindness), and to be humble before God. These are the duties of love. Jesus showed us that love was a requirement to worshipping God. “Love God above others, and love your neighbour as yourself,” Jesus said. The words go deep, for to love self means to respect, to honour self, as well as to seek justice for self. We cannot live with loathe of self and expect to love others in the way of God. Neither can we receive God’s love and not love others. God’s worship requires that we do have zeal in loving Him, in obedience, in objective justice, but he also requires us to love our fellow human being. Rituals may be perfectly fulfilled, but if the love of God is not present in our heart and actions, if we are proud and not humble, then our gift of worship does not glorify our God of love, mercy, and justice.

Pastor Julia

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