A Life of True Faith
How were you first introduced to God? Maybe it was via a flannel-covered board in a Sunday school classroom. Or maybe it was through a revival or service of some kind where a person told you about who God is. Or maybe another person engaged you in conversation and shared their faith story.
God is often described in one of two ways: a loving, compassionate father figure who cares for us and wants us to be happy; or an angry, judgmental old guy waiting for us to screw up so he can punish us.
Rarely are both of these images held together in tension, but in the book of Micah, we see just such a God.
Micah was a prophet who grew up in a rural, probably agricultural, area about twenty miles from Jerusalem. That distance, while it doesn’t seem far at all in this day and age, was a great journey for Micah’s family. They traveled for days on foot to the temple to offer sacrifices and listen to the prophet Isaiah preach to the people. Isaiah influenced young Micah, which is why we see similar themes expressed by the two prophets.
At the time Micah became a prophet, Israel was experiencing a period of abundance, and life was good. The Israelites were feeling blessed. They knew tht God had declared them his people, and they acted like it.
They were living as though the rules didn’t really matter, though, because they were God’s beloved. They failed to take seriously the making of offerings and sacrifices; instead , they were just going through the motions.
Micah spoke some hard truths to the people of Israel. He told them that God’s anger was real and that his love was also just as real. Both the anger and the love were unending, irresistible, and unfathomable. The people of Israel could not comprehend how their acts of fraud, theft, greed, debauchery, oppression, hypocrisy, heresy, injustice, extortion, lying, and even murder could anger God. They believed that, as God’s chosen people, he would never be mad at them. They believed they were special.
It is easy to fall into the same trap as the Israelites, to feel that I am blessed, anointed, special. To feel that the rules everyone else is expected to follow don’t apply to me. And like the Israelites, I also forget that God becomes angry.
Micah warns the Israelites—and he thereby warns you and me—to beware of perverting the faith, of making our own brand of religion. Dishonest and selfish leaders will be judged by their sinful, empty, and public displays of piety and religiosity. Making our own rules is dangerous, because we can easily build our own selfish desires and pet projects into a faith.
The people of Israel were engaged in oppression, of their own people and of others. They failed to care for the widow and the orphan. They excluded people from the temple whom they did not feel were worthy. God will not bless us as we engage in acts of oppression or remain silent spectators. Micah warned that we dare not ask God for help when we are oppressing others.
I am reminded of the disciples questioning Jesus in Matthew:
Then these righteous ones will reply, “Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?” And the King will say, “I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!” (Matt. 25:37-40 NLT)
God’s greatest desire for us and for the people of Israel is not pompous and pious displays of piety in the temple, gaudy and attention-seeking sacrifices, loud prayers, and other acts of public faith. Instead, God delights in faith, justice, service to others, and obedience to his call.
Living a life of true faith will yield a life, a family, and a community of kindness, compassion, justice, and humility.
The disciples were concerned that the greater world, outside of the Jesus followers, would know that they were the OG disciples. How would they know that they had been the ones who were the closest? Jesus said to them, “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” (John 13:35 NLT)
That was the same message Micah had brought to the people of Israel centuries earlier. They wanted to know what they should do to prove their faithfulness to God:
What can we bring to the Lord?
Should we bring him burnt offerings?
Should we bow before God Most High
with offerings of yearling calves?
Should we offer him thousands of rams
and ten thousand rivers of olive oil?
Should we sacrifice our firstborn children
to pay for our sins?
No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good,
and this is what he requires of you:
to do what is right, to love mercy,
and to walk humbly with your God.
The Lord has told us what he requires. May we do what is right, may we love mercy, and may we walk humbly with our Lord and Savior every day.
is rooted like a turnip to the plains of North Dakota where she raises great food, large numbers of farm animals, and three free-range kids with her husband. You can find her with either a book or knitting needles in her hands as she dreams up her next adventure.
Photograph © Sixteen Miles Out, used with permission
