Micah 6:1-8
Nobody
wants to receive a summons to court, especially family court. Every family has
its fair share of dirty laundry. Who doesn’t cringe at the thought of having
it aired in public?
Nevertheless,
we find ourselves presented with such a summons in today’s text (vv. 1-2).
God has called for His children to answer for themselves in a case of neglect
and abandonment. Strangely, it isn’t a case of a father who has neglected
his children but children who’ve abandoned their Father.
The
ugliness started back when the children felt exasperated over 613 rules handed
down by the Father and bound up in five books they called “the Law.”
“Unreasonable,” they bellowed, as they stomped rebelliously away (v.
3).
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Then
came the summons. Remin-ded by their loving Father of how well He had provided
for and protected them across the years, they exaggerated the lengths to which
they’d go to make things right (vv. 4-7). “Unnecessary,” said the
Father, “here’s all I’ve ever expected of My children” (v.
8).
First,
I want you to do justly.
Possess
personal integrity. Don’t lie, cheat, or steal. Don’t sneak anything
into the fine print at the bottom of the contract that would serve to your advantage
and to the detriment of the other party. Set a high standard of honesty to live
up to. Be so honest in your dealings with others that they wouldn’t believe
you could do wrong unless they saw it with their own eyes.
Henry
Bosch, a contributor to the devotional guide Our Daily Bread, tells of
watching his father return to a convenience store a second news-paper that he
picked up accidentally without purchasing. He didn’t want the store’s
manager to think him dishonest.
A
week later the police were summoned to the store to investigate the shoplifting
of some expensive items. They determined only two men were in the store at the
time the merchandise went missing: John Bosch and another man. When the officers
informed the manager about their suspects, he remembered John returning the paper
a week earlier and jumped to his defense. At his urging, the police questioned
the other fellow who soon confessed to his crime.
John’s
honesty cost him a little humiliation and inconvenience in the short-term, but
it paid off in the long-term. Integrity always does — if not in this world, in
the next. Regardless of any reward, the Father requires it of us.
Second,
I want you to love mercy.
Cherish
grace and mercy. The ancient word is hesed, often translated “lovingkindness”
in the KJV. Hesed is withholding retaliation that is deserved while showing kindness
that isn’t. Hesed is what Jonathan asked David to show his descendants in
1 Sam. 20:15, and is precisely what Israel’s third king showed his friend’s
crippled son Mephibosheth years later.