What Does The Lord Require of Us?

What Does The Lord Require of Us?

Psalm 19: 1 – 8

Micah 6: 6 – 8

June 28, 2026

There are moments in life when people ask a question that sounds spiritual, and it might be, but, on another level, that same question is often deeply personal. “What does God want from me?” The question comes, not just as a theological exercise or as a starting point for conversation. But in the quiet moments. When the marriage is strained. When work feels empty. When prayers feel unanswered. When the world seems loud and divided. When faith starts feeling more complicated than life itself. What does God actually want me to do and be?

Micah asks that question, but he asks it dramatically. He imagines someone approaching God carrying increasingly extravagant offerings. Maybe a sacrifice will impress God. No? Then more sacrifice. Thousands of rams. Ten thousand rivers of oil.

That logic – if one extends it out - becomes disturbing. If more religious intensity earns more favor, maybe the ultimate offering is everything - even one’s own child. Micah pushes this to the edge to expose something. People have always been tempted to believe that God prefers performance over transformation.

And then comes one of the clearest answers in all Scripture: “He has shown you what is good.” It’s not hidden. It’s not written up in some secret code. The answer is not stashed behind some prerequisite level of mandatory achievement. God’s desire is not about performance or spectacle. It is about a way of living.

Micah puts those expectations before us quite simply. Act justly. Love mercy. Walk humbly with your God. These are simple words with endless depth.

Justice in Scripture is not merely punishment or legal fairness. Justice means relationships made right. It means recognizing that every person bears dignity. Every person, no matter where they are from, no matter what identity they claim, every person is made in the image of God. Every person is so loved by God that Jesus died on the Cross for them!

Justice asks, “Who is overlooked? Who carries burdens they should not carry alone? Who benefits and who pays the cost?” Justice is active. Notice that Micah does not say "admire justice."

Micah says do justice. Micah gives us no wiggle room, no opportunity to diffuse the expectation by placing it in the midst of a word salad. Micah gives us a short declarative sentence and that expectation changes everything. Micah tells us that faith cannot remain private if public life becomes cruel. It means worship cannot stop at performance and songs if our treatment of people does not reflect the character of the God we are singing about.

Justice begins closer than we imagine. Micah has gone from preaching to meddling. Justice may mean paying attention to the person everyone ignores. Justice may mean choosing to own our mistakes rather than covering them up to protect one's reputation. It means using influence to open doors for others. Speaking truth even when silence would be easier. Justice creates workplaces that treat people as human beings instead of assembly line robots.

Justice is not always dramatic. Often, the pursuit of justice is ordinary faithfulness repeated over the years. We are tempted in today’s culture to virtue-signal our justice. It becomes a statement, not just of what is right, but also of who we want people to presume us to be. We signal these values publicly while living differently privately. Micah cuts through that kind of self-serving performance. Justice is not what we post. It is how we live.

Justice without mercy becomes cold. Mercy without justice becomes shallow. Micah joins them powerfully together and notice the wording. Micah does not say that we should simply show mercy. Micah sets the spiritual bar so much higher. We are to love mercy.

Become the kind of person who delights in giving grace. That sounds beautiful until someone actually wrongs us. Then, as we embrace our victimhood, we want our compensatory pound of flesh. Mercy is easy in theory, but it is very hard in practice.

Mercy means refusing to reduce people to their worst moments and allowing people to be more than their past mistakes. Mercy remembers that every person you meet is carrying a story that you do not fully know. Mercy leaves room for repentance. Mercy does not deny consequences, but mercy refuses vindictive revenge.

Our culture often operates with two opposite instincts. One says, “People never change.” The other says, "Actions never matter – they have no eternal consequence." Biblical mercy says both are wrong. Actions matter. People can change if we are merciful enough to create time and space for that change.

God’s mercy toward us becomes the fountain of mercy from which we offer mercy to others. If God dealt with us only according to strict accounting, none of us would stand. Every one of us lives by grace. As recipients of grace, we are called to offer that grace to others.

Mercy transforms homes. Love and mercy create parents who correct without humiliation. Mercy transforms spouses into partners who choose restoration over scorekeeping. Merciful friends stay present through failure. Communities, embracing a mercy that dares to believe that redemption is possible, become places of new beginnings and opportunities. Mercy is not weakness. In fact, mercy requires strength. Anyone can retaliate. Mercy takes courage.

Micah saves humility for last. Micah does so because humility is the relational glue that holds justice and mercy together. Without humility, justice becomes self-righteous. Without humility, mercy becomes superiority. Humility is not thinking less of yourself. It is thinking of yourself truthfully. Walking humbly means remembering thatwe are not the center of the universe - God is.

The image here is a beautiful one. We are not called to perform for God. We are asked to walk with God. Walk daily, faithfully, relationally. It is not a sprint. It is not – IT IS NOT - a matter of proving one’s self worthy before God.

We are called to walk. You know, some people imagine faith as moments of spiritual intensity. Micah describes something much quieter. Micah describes how we are to conduct our each and every day. Wake up - walk with God. Go to work - walk with God. Raise children - walk with God. Make decisions, conduct your work life, and socialize with your friends – all while walking with God.

Walk with God. Humility means remaining teachable. It means saying, “I may not see everything clearly, I may need correction, I may need forgiveness, I may need help.

Humility is difficult because modern life constantly tells us to present ourselves - to appear certain, successful, and impressive. Micah points us in another direction. God is not asking for image management. God is inviting a relationship.

Micah’s world was full of religious, political, and social tension. Micah’s world was divided and polarized. Doesn’t that sound familiar? People were “worshiping” while neglecting others. They were proclaiming devotion while avoiding responsibility. Busy with appearances, in the maintenance of their religiosity, they were disconnected from God’s heart.

Micah’s words remain vital and relevant because they challenge every generation. God is not impressed by spiritual optics. God is not swayed by mere attendance alone. We don’t earn points for the right vocabulary or proper appearance. Ritual over relationship is not of God. God then, like now, was certainly not impressed with intensity for its own sake.

This is not to say that those things I just mentioned have no value. Those things may have some value. But they are not of ultimate importance. They are not the center. They are but means to a greater spiritual end.

The center is this. Do our lives reflect God’s character? When people encounter us, do they experience fairness, compassion, and humility? Can people trust us? Do we tell the truth? Do we seek first, and continually, reconciliation? Do we make room for others?

This is not about earning God’s love. Micah is not saying, Do these things so God accepts you.” The order matters. “He has shown you…..,” God reveals first, and our response follows. Grace comes first, transformation follows.

If we are honest, many of us carry invisible scorecards. We have expectations to be met like achievement, recognition, and productivity. These scorecards drive us to the right school, the right job, the right neighborhood. Religious success can become another scorecard. Micah offers a different accountability. At the end of life, perhaps the most important questions will not be, “How impressive were you? How influential? How admired?”

No, I think the truly important questions will be, “Did you act justly, did you love mercy, did you walk humbly with God? Those questions cut through the white noise of daily living because they reach and reveal the heart.

Imagine standing before God and asking, “What should I bring?” What thing, what accomplishment, what kind of status do you want from me? And God responds, Bring your life. Bring your relationships. Bring your decisions. Bring your work. Bring your words. Bring your compassion. Bring your willingness to grow and then….. walk with me. Not perfectly, but faithfully.

Micah 6:8 remains one of Scripture’s clearest invitations. It is not complicated. It is not easy, but it is clear. Act justly. Love mercy. Walk humbly with your God. In a world desperately searching for meaning, the faithful way of life still shines. Let your light shine! Amen.