Discover His heart: He desires our fellowship rather than our sacrifices
It’s painful when someone close to us leaves or ignores us. Our first response is to question what went wrong, what did we do to cause the separation. While it’s true that time heals wounds, it sometimes takes a long time to finally stop second-guessing what we could have done differently. The one place we can go for solace is to God because He really does understand our hurt and our questioning as we read in Micah today.
@ Micah 6
“Listen to what the Lord is saying: ‘O my people, what have I done to you? What have I done to make you tired of me? Answer me!’” (3) It’s hard to imagine that humanity would put God in a position where He would ask these questions. How foolish are we anyway? Yet, I would think most of us have given cause for God to question our distance from Him at one time or another. It is our God we read about on Tuesday in 2 Chronicles 16:9, whose eyes “search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.” He loves us enough to go searching for us.
The Israelites response to God’s questioning was typical, “What can we bring to the Lord? What kind of offerings should we give him?”(6) When we have been in a similar situation with a loved one, what do we really want from them? We want the person, not their stuff. Flowers and gifts are nice to receive when a relationship is restored, but they are not proof to us that it has been restored. How we walk with one another in a relationship tells the story, and God feels the very same way.
“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.” (8) We do our best to make our walk with the Lord confusing and difficult to understand at times, but it’s actually pretty simple. He isn’t after some showy sacrifice to appease Him; He wants a relationship just like we do. We also prove our love and commitment to Him by doing what is right in our dealings with others – just doing the right thing! Showing mercy to others demonstrates that we acknowledge and appreciate the mercy He has extended to us. Humble submission in our walk with Him is really what He desires, “Obedience is better than sacrifice.” (I Samuel 15:22)
Oh that we would never cause God to question our relationship with Him with, “What have I done to make you tired of me?” However, if we do, He will receive our true repentant hearts back without our flowers, gifts or showy sacrifices because, bottom line, He wants us!
Moving Forward: I’m challenged today to fulfill His requirements – Do what is right, show mercy and humbly walk with Him, never tiring of His Holy presence.
Tomorrow @ Acts 5-6
Phyllis Benigas 