The Lord’s Will Doesn’t Have To Be Complicated

EXPOSITORY ARTICLE | Jeremy Woodman | Kingston, Ontario

“He has shown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justly,
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God?
(Micah 6:8, NKJV)

The preceding quote from the prophet Micah is one of the most elegant quotes in the entire Bible. Like the prophet himself, it directs and delivers plain truth to a generation that had entangled themselves with sin and complicated their lives with ritualistic religion. The lessons apply to our generation as well as his.

To fully appreciate Micah’s statement, we have to look at it in its historical context. Contemporary with Isaiah, Micah prophesied, “in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah” (Micah 1:1), placing his work in an estimated range of 737 BC – 696 BC. This was a busy time for the prophets. The northern ten tribes of the divided kingdom, known collectively as Israel, had long fallen into idolatry. Calling all the peoples as a witness, the Lord invites Israel, the ten northern tribes of the divided kingdom, to repent. Unfortunately, they disregarded this call as they had all others. In 721 BC, they were carried away in Assyrian captivity, as promised by God in the Law (Deuteronomy 28, Leviticus 18). Unlike Israel, whose kings were all wicked, Judah (which included the small tribe Benjamin) had some good kings. However, as a nation, they also progressively slid into idolatry. Seeing the destruction of their northern neighbors should have been a proverbial wake-up call, and it was for kings like Hezekiah. However, much work needed to be done.

The primary sin of Judah was idolatry, but it is far from the only one. In Chapter 2, we read of those who “devise iniquity and work out evil on their bed” (Micah 2:1), reminiscent of the people of Noah’s day whose thoughts were “only evil continually” (Genesis 6:6). Their machinations were covetous, focused on acquiring their neighbors’ fields and houses by any means necessary, including violence (Micah 2:2). Like Jezebel and Ahab, they silenced the legitimate prophets of God (Micah 2:6). They heeded the words of the false prophets, drunkards (Micah 2:11), and diviners (Micah 3:6-7). Writing just a bit earlier, during the reign of Uzziah, Amos said, “they hate the one who rebukes in the gate, and they abhor the one who speaks uprightly” (Amos 5:10). Instead, they glorified in wickedness (Micah 3:1). Their princes, judges, and priests were all corrupt, readily accepting bribes and prophesying (favourably, of course) for money (Micah 3:11-12).

For these things, and others recorded in the history of the Kings and by the other prophets, God was justified in His proclaimed judgment against them. God is also longsuffering though and “sent warning to them by His messengers, rising up early and sending them, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place” (2 Chr 36:15). Reminiscent of Isaiah’s statement, “come let us reason together” (Is 1:18), God asks Judah, “what have I done to you?” (Micah 6:3) to warrant such unfaithfulness. The answer is nothing. The fault lies entirely with Judah. Nonetheless, this is the same generation that was told, “though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow” (Is 1:18) if they turned in repentance.

It is within that context that we read our quote. God tells them what they needed to do and the attitude they needed to have. It reads as a relatively simple list, one that may seem obvious today. However, this was to a group who “call evil good, and good evil” (Is 5:20) to the point that they couldn’t discern between the two any longer. They needed to go back to basics.

It is easy to make the mistake of thinking that the people of Judah were not religious. From the verses preceding the text under consideration, we see this was not the case. The prophet asks, “shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, ten thousand rivers of oil?” (Micah 6:6-7) Similarly, God, through Isaiah, commands the people to “bring no more futile sacrifice; incense is an abomination to Me. The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies – I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting. Your New Moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates” (Is 1:13). From this passage, we infer that the people were religious in the ritualistic sense of observing holidays and feast days; however, their service to God was compromised by mixing it with idolatry and confusing observance with faithfulness. The Pharisees of Jesus’ day made the same mistake. The Lord rebukes them, saying, “you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith” (Matt 23: 23).

God’s will has never been complicated or indeterminate. It is man that makes it so by adding layer upon layer of addendums, rules, creeds, traditions, etc. Paul was concerned that the Corinthians were moving away from “the simplicity that is in Christ” (2 Cor 11:3) toward a gospel that was likely based on the wisdom of the world. They were enamoured with worldly wisdom, a major problem he addressed in his first letter to them. Simplicity does not mean easy, though. In his second letter to Timothy, Paul compares the Christian life to that of a soldier, an athlete, and a farmer, all professions that require strenuous effort, focus, and commitment. The author of Hebrews builds on that analogy and instructs the Christian to “lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us” (Heb 12:1). One of those snares is to fall into the same trap the ancient Israelites did. Regular church attendance and Bible study are among the many fruits of faithfulness when a Christian of pure faith does them. Still, when done in place of devotion in other areas of life, or worse as a shield to hide a double life, they fall into the same category as Micah condemned. James admonishes, “pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted by the world” (James 1:27).

“For whatever things were written before were written for our learning” (Romans 15:4). The people of Micah’s day had thought they could still serve God while practicing idolatry and living an unfaithful life. The Christian can commit the same folly, “if we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness” (1 John 1:6). By the grace and longsuffering of God, though, “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins” (1 John 1:9) as one turns in repentance to the straight and narrow way.

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October 2020 | GROW magazine