JUSTICE, LOVE, AND HUMILITY

Micah 6:8 “The Lord has already told you what is good, and this is what he requires; to do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with your God.”

It really sounds pretty simple doesn’t it? “Do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with your God.” Almost like the scouting oath. Be fair. Be nice. Be humble. But when you read Micah in the context of which he spoke these words, you will soon realize that it is more than a smooth motto. It is much deeper than a memorized verse of scripture.

God established a covenant with the Hebrew people: “I will be your God and you will be my people.” (Leviticus 26) God’s loving actions of freeing the Hebrew people from slavery and giving them the promised land were only the first ways God held up God’s end of the deal. God promised to continue to provide for them. But a covenant relationship is a two way street. Both parties to a covenant have responsibilities, required behaviors that sustain and maintain the relationship. It is just like a marriage covenant, where two people promise to love each other and to care for each other.

But during Micah’s time, things were going well for the nation of Israel. And they had forgotten their covenant with the one who delivered them from slavery. For Micah, it was not enough that they said “Hey, we are good people! We go to the temple everyday. We offer sacrifices and give generously.” The question was, “What does God require?”
“To do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God.”

Justice means fairness, fair play and equity within the human family. In the thought of the Old Testament to do justice involved the basic needs, requirements, or even rights of people living together in community. Justice, then, is decidedly social in nature. God’s covenant requires the people whom God delivered from slavery never to treat others as they had been treated in Egypt. To do so would be to violate the very promise that God made to the Hebrew people. God requires a commitment to the poor, oppressed, and powerless in a society, people who have no voice of their own by which to redress the injustices that marginalize them as human beings.

The Hebrew word “hesed” is translated as “kindness” and “mercy”. It is a relationship term. It is not a warm-fuzzy-feeling kind of love, but the commitment and steadfast dependability that arises from mutual relationship. To love "hesed" was to be committed not only to God who had demonstrated "hesed" to the people. It was also to live in community in such a way that "hesed" marked life together as God’s people. To love "hesed" was to be committed to a quality of life that was governed by the principles of mutual respect, helpfulness, and loving concern.

Walking humbly with God is a call to do more than to come to God with offerings thinking to buy God’s favor. It is a call to live our lives with God in ways that would work out in every aspect of life. It implies sensitivity to the things of God. To allow our hearts to be broken by the things that break the heart of God. It is a deep desire to see the world through the eyes of God, to act in the world as God would act.

Much like the Hebrew people, we have been delivered from the bondage of sin and death. We, therefore, have an opportunity, if not a mandate to love others, to defend the helpless, and to walk in humility. By doing so, we live a life that makes a difference.