God’s Requirements

Prayer – Lord, I want to please You in all that I think, say, and do as I walk with You. Give me wisdom to understand Your word and a willing heart to obey You. Draw me close to You, my Lord and Savior. 

What can we bring to the LORD? What kind of offerings should we give him? Should we bow before God with offerings of yearling calves? Should we offer him thousands of rams and ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Should we sacrifice our firstborn children to pay for our sins? 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 6:6-8

 

Meditate. Consider what God requires in scripture. Read God’s word and listen to what He is saying.

 

Are you walking humbly with our God?

            I guess the first question is…is my God your God? Is Jesus the Lord and Savior of your life? Are you filled with the Holy Spirit? What does God require of us? As written to the people of Judah, the southern kingdom, by the prophet Micah seven hundred years before Jesus was born, we are to…do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.        

            The sacrificial system used up until the Temple was destroyed in 70 AD involved sacrificing animals. That was the offering of which Micah was referring. A blood sacrifice for their sins. When Jesus died on the cross, He was the ultimate sacrifice for all the sins of mankind—no more sacrifices needed to be made, but the Jewish tradition continued until the Temple was destroyed. We don’t ever have to have any sacrifices like the Mosaic law demanded since Jesus was our sacrificial lamb. David wrote a Psalm about the sacrifice that God desires. A repentant heart.

    You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one. You do not want a burnt offering. The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God. Psalm 51:16-17 NLT

You may have heard this in another translation.

For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart—These, O God, You will not despise. Psalm 51:16-17 NKJV (Underlined for emphasis.)

Does a repentant or contrite heart encourage or require of us to…do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God? To repent is to apologize, to regret, to be sorry, and to atone or ask for forgiveness. It is having a contrite heart. Don’t get caught up or distracted in the translation of a particular word. The important thing is to focus on your relationship with the Lord. To love mercy, doing what is right and humbly walking—living together—with the Lord—is what we are called to do. It is what I strive to do. Each of us choose of how we live in relationship with the Lord. What is your choice today?  

 

Verses of Salvation ~ Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me. Do not banish me from your presence, and don't take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you. Then I will teach your ways to rebels, and they will return to you. Psalm 51:10-13

© 2024 Text, photos, and illustrations by Mickey M. Hunacek. All rights reserved. 

All scripture quoted from the New Living Translation (NLT) unless otherwise noted. 

New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. 

Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

New King James Version (NKJV) © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Harper Collins Publisher. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

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