One of the twelve Old Testament books that we often refer to as “The Minor Prophets” bears the name Micah.
In the time of Micah, religious practice had, for some, been separated from daily life. Abundance and prosperity had caused some of God’s people to become corrupt and greedy. They were more concerned with profit than they were with people. They felt that their daily corruption would be covered up with some cultic (ritualistic) relationship with God. But the word of the Lord through Micah sounded a different note:
“With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
What we do on each day of the week will echo more soundly than what we give lip service to when we come into God’s house occasionally over the weekend. (Although it might be best if these were two verses of the same song!)
Prayer
Dear God, guide my feet down the path of doing justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly with You, as I follow Your Son, my Lord and Savior Jesus, in whose name I pray. Amen.