What Pleases God?

 (What does the Lord Require?)

Micah 6:6-8

The last high school football game that my Dad ever saw me play was memorable… kinda. Actually there’s only one play that I really remember. It was a running play where the ball carrier ended up on the far side of the field. In front of me was an overweight defensive lineman who was huffing and puffing on every step he took.

Because we were so far from the ball carrier, anything that I did was going to be inconsequential. Yet I knew this was my opportunity. I laid the hardest block on him that I could, dropping him to the ground like a rock.

 It had absolutely no impact on the outcome of the play, or the game. But it was my moment to shine. I wanted my Dad to be proud of me; to earn his approval.

Micah asks the people of Israel what they can do to earn their Heavenly Father’s approval.

⁶ “How can we make up to you for what we’ve done?” you ask. “Shall we bow before the Lord with offerings of yearling calves?” Oh no! ⁷ For if you offered him thousands of rams and ten thousands of rivers of olive oil—would that please him? Would he be satisfied?            TLB

 Based on these verses, it seems that Israel can’t do anything to earn God’s approval. However, in the very next verse, through an ironic twist, Micah seems to foreshadow what God’s plan of redemption will actually be.

 If you sacrificed your oldest child, would that make him glad? Then would he forgive your sins? Of course not!             TLB

But if God sacrificed His “oldest child”, and made it possible for us to invite him into our heart, that would please our Heavenly Father. Then and only then, will we be able to stand before Him and hear Him say, “Well done faithful servant.”

“What does the Lord require of you? But to act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your Lord and Savior.”         NIV