"He has shown you, O man, 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).
I am often asked by people to help them discern God’s will for their lives. I have to answer, “If you are asking me how you can know whether God wants you to live in Chattanooga or St. Louis, or to marry Mabel or Isabel, that’s a difficult question. But I can tell you this: The will of God for your life is your sanctification. Make the kingdom of God and His righteousness the main goal of your life, for God is not as concerned whether you live in Tuscaloosa or St. Paul or whether you marry Rose or Violet.”
What does God require of us? He requires us to walk by faith, which means to walk trusting Him. First, He calls on us to act justly, to do what’s right. If we trust Him, we will obey Him. We will be a people who avoid sin and pursue righteousness. Sometimes doing things justly is painful and risky, but if we trust God, we will do what is right anyway.
Second, He calls on us to love mercy. The word mercy can also be translated “lovingkindness” or “steadfast love.” Another translation can be “to love with loyalty.” Are we loyal in our love for those around us, or are we fickle? We could put it this way: Are we trustworthy? If God is trustworthy, we are supposed to be trustworthy also. How many of us have been deeply hurt because we confided something in a friend, only to have that friend betray our trust? More importantly, have we ever betrayed confidences and shown ourselves to be untrustworthy? We want others to be merciful to us and to guard our confidences. Just so, we must be merciful to others.
And third, He calls on us to walk humbly with our God. We can afford to walk with God because He is completely trustworthy. We can open ourselves up to Him in prayer because He will never betray us. We can submit to Him because He will never cause us to come to any real harm, even when He chastises us.
As we’ve looked at the life of faith we’ve seen that faith in action means obedience. Today’s meditation focuses on trustworthiness. As you look at your past, have you ever abused the trust someone put in you? Are there confidences you are guarding right now that you must keep secure in order to be trustworthy?
