Micah 6:6-8

With what shall I come before the LORD and bow down before the exalted God?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?
Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,
With ten thousand rivers of oil?
Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression,
The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

He has showed you, O man, what is good.

And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
And to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:6-8

“New Year’s resolution: to manifest more of the fruit of the Spirit” was scrawled across my journal from the middle school years. I strategized—I would concentrate on one per month. January—love; February—joy; March—peace; etc. Somehow, I couldn’t do it on my own. It showed my desperate desire to please the Lord—and an ignorance of how to do it. My pre-teen reasoning was to discipline, sacrifice, perform to please and perhaps I’d please the Lord just a little more….

So, too, did the people of Micah’s day want to please the Lord. Assyria had probably at this point carried off the northern tribe—or was at least an imminent threat. Some believe that Micah helped influence the reform under King Hezekiah. Perhaps this text was expressing part of that revival—“We’re seeking to please the Lord. How do we do that?”

This text is modeled after a “cultic entrance liturgy”—“an individual’s inquiry as to the conditions of admittance to the sanctuary and an official answer” (Allen, p. 363). In other words, how do I please God? What does he want?

The Israelites immediately thought of what they could do, their history and tradition. They think of Leviticus…. Will a burnt offering suffice? But the weight of their unworthiness hangs heavy, creates that frantic fear to please. Maybe more, maybe thousands of rams will be enough. Tension mounts; it doesn’t seem like enough. Sin still sits on their shoulders. Ten thousand rivers of oil? Sin only snickers. And in the acme of religious zeal, fear to please, burden of unworthiness—what about their own children? Will that please the Lord? Will that atone for their sin? O wretched body of death before the holy Lord!

The question lingers, “How weighty are God’s demands to atone for sin?”

It can be a question that still slinks in the shadows of our souls, working itself out in fervent service, in New Year’s resolutions, in one more surrender-all moment, rededications, in forms of self-penance, in attempts to please God. They try to ease that cold fear shadow of unworthiness.

How weighty are God’s demands to atone for sin? Only his own son. Our own sacrifices, our own children, our own efforts will never be enough. We know this mentally—but sometimes Satan still slithers his shadowy lies into our hearts, subtle yet steering. Slip into fear, slip into sacrificial service, vows to lift that shivering fear.

No matter how zealous we are—it is only Christ. With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God? Covered in the blood of Christ. We come with nothing.

Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Heb. 4:16)

In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. (Eph. 3:12)

The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God. (Heb. 7:18-19)

He has showed us what is good—he has revealed his salvation in his Son, Christ Jesus our Lord. He has showed us our base of confidence before him. Christ acted justly, loved mercy, and walked humbly with His God. Christ made it possible for us to know the good. He fulfilled it for us. He has made the way to himself. Furthermore, it is God’s continuing grace which fills us with the ability to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God through the life of Christ which is in us.

All by Jesus, and my heart can rest. I am in him, the Beloved, with whom he is well-pleased (Eph. 1:6; Mt. 3:17).