What is Good?

I just love it when God is so present! Early this afternoon I had a chance to spend some good quality time with God. I read Micah 6-7, and Nahum 1-3. As I was reading, a verse jumped out at me which caused me to write it down and ponder it. In fact, I spent quite a bit of time there.  Here it is:

He has showed 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 NIV)

Verses 6 and 7 preface it by asking God how should we come before the Lord and bow before God on high. With burnt offerings? Rivers of oil? My firstborn son? No.

God has shown us what He considers good. He asks us to:

1. Do justly. Do what is good to God, others and yourself.

2. Love kindness and mercy. Be kind and forgiving. Extend mercy to those who hurt you.

3. Walk humbly with God. Breaking this phrase apart gives a little more insight. Walking with God in humility. In order to walk with God, I must spend time with Him. In fact, walking does not mean a few short steps – it indicates quite a bit of time in my eyes. This can easily be done in every activity by including Him in your decisions, your thoughts, your actions, your words, your day.

It’s this walking with God that produces the miracles.

Wouldn’t you say that Micah 6:8 is a pretty obscure scripture? I mean, who really reads Micah? How often do you memorize scripture from there? How often do you hear someone preaching using Micah?

And yet, when I opened my email a little later, K-Love’s Encouraging Word of the day shared the following scripture:

Tuesday 7/24/2012

No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:8, NLT)

Miracles. Close, intimate fellowship with my God where He personally speaks to me, and just confirms it later on. Haha! That’s living a life in abundance!

The thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come so that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. (John 10:10 MKJV)