Trusting God in a Godless World

" 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


     Micah was an Old Testament prophet whose name literally means, "Who is like Jehovah?"
Prone to wandering, Israel had wandered from God and Micah desperately sought to call the Jews back to faithful worship and sincere obedience to God's covenant.  Micah could see judgment coming and his ministry brought about great reformation under the leadership of King Hezekiah ( 2 Kings 18-20).

     The message was clear - trust God and obey His will.  Micah knew that God had created Israel to bring blessings to the whole world ( Genesis 12: 1-3).  Ultimately, it would be through Israel that salvation would come ( John 4:22).  God had created the Jewish people with a calling of utmost importance and Micah was passionate in trying to convey this fact.

     This prophet could see that,  as the Jews began to adopt the practices of the surrounding godless nations, they were less able to do what God had called them to do.  The slippery slope of compromise caused them to fall further and further away.  Ultimately, they despised their high and holy calling.

     It wasn't that these Jews stopped going to the temple.  They were very religious people, but they were also shallow and guilty in God's eyes.  They preferred religious ceremonies and behavior modification to the true transformation God was offering to them.

     Micah presents his message as a courtroom drama.  He states that the Judge had declared the indictment ( Micah 6:1-8), pronounced the sentence ( Micah 6:9 - 7:7),  and then graciously promised mercy ( Micah 7:7-20) !  Micah used the arguments of guilt, punishment, and mercy to plead with the people to repent and return to the Lord.

     He urged the people of Israel to act justly, love mercy, and to walk humbly with their God.  Micah encouraged them to champion social justice and be concerned for the helpless and the poor.  He stressed the corruption within their society and the defiance of the law of Moses.  His closing argument was to "Trust the Lord, not in spite of these things, but because of these things!"

     Even though Micah lived about 2700 years ago, his society and culture sounds much like ours.  (I love how timeless God's Word is!).  I sometimes wonder if our generation is witnessing the disintegration of justice, mercy, and humility.  If so, is it not up to the children of God to resurrect it once again?

     While Micah's message is not solely a message of salvation, it is true that those who do not know Christ cannot possess these attributes in the way God calls us to.  We are saved completely by God's mercy (Titus 3:5) and then it is Christ in us that shines forth in the world.  We could never work enough nor be righteous enough to earn our own salvation.

     When God tells us to "act justly", we remember that this is impossible unless we have been justified by faith and are right with God (Psalm 32:1-2 and Romans 4:1-8).  When God tells us to "love mercy", we remember that we first must personally experience God's mercy before we can extend it to others (Ephesians 2:4 and Titus 3:5).  When God tells us to "walk humbly", we remember we must first bow humbly before Him, confess our sins, and claim His promise of forgiveness ( Luke 14:11 and James 4:10).

     This parable in Luke illustrates all three points.  " And He [ Jesus] also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt: 'Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself : "God, I thank you that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all I get."  But the tax collector, standing at some distance away, was even unwilling to lift his eyes up to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, "God, be merciful to me, the sinner!" I tell you, this man went away justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.'"  ( Luke 18: 9-14).

     The Pharisee wore distorted glasses and could not see himself accurately.  The tax collector did see himself correctly.  When we see ourselves the way God sees us then we can, by faith, become what He wants us to become.  Paradoxically, it is the humble who will truly be honored by God (Proverbs 15:33).  True humility also becomes the root to all other godly virtues.

     Dwight L. Moody describes true humility as follows: " Moses spent forty years thinking he was somebody; then he spent forty years on the backside of the desert realizing he was nobody; finally, he spent the last forty years of his life learning what God can do with a nobody!"

     Humility comes from the Latin word humilis, which literally means low.  It is not feeling bad about yourself;  rather, it is referring to a lack of ego.  A lowly heart becomes a dwelling place for the Lord.  Moody also said, " God has two thrones, one in the highest heavens, and the other in the lowliest heart."

     Andrew Murray describes it this way: " The humble man feels no jealousy or envy. He can praise God when others are preferred before him.  He can bear to hear others praised while he is forgotten because... he has received the Spirit of Jesus, who pleased not Himself, and who sought not His own honor.  Therefore, in putting on the Lord Jesus Christ he has put on the heart of compassion, kindness, meekness, long-suffering and humility."

     We, too, are admonished to love kindness and mercy.  It is compassion that leads us to have mercy, which is like forgiveness.  It is a pardon or leniency that is not deserved.  In the New Testament, mercy is the fulfillment of God's promised kindness through the saving work of Jesus. When we receive mercy from God, we are then instructed to give this same mercy to others.  I believe the reason why God tells us to love mercy is that He wants us to be passionate about giving it away!

     Acting justly in an unjust world is only possible when we have been justified by faith.  Justice is a term associated with the law.  In the Old Testament, Moses was given God's laws. Just as it was impossible for the Jews to keep every point of the law, so it is for us today.  It is the atonement of Christ that sets us free from all the demands of God's laws.

     More than anything, Jesus desires relationship with us.  It is not about rules and regulations. The more we know Jesus, the more we will trust Him. The more godless our world becomes, the more we need to focus on Christ and not on our circumstances.  John Gresham Machen, an American Presbytarian theologian said, " The more we know of God the more unreservedly we will trust Him; the greater our progress in theology, the simpler and more child-like will be our faith."  The question we need to ask ourselves is, "Who is Jehovah" to you?


                                                              " I lay my 'whys'
                                                                Before Your cross
                                                                In worship kneeling,
                                                                My mind too numb
                                                                For thought,
                                                                My heart beyond
                                                                All feeling.
                                                                And, worshipping,
                                                               Realize that I
                                                               In knowing You
                                                              Don't need a 'why'.
                                                                                                    Ruth Bell Graham