March 7th, 2014
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

True Worship

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Opening Prayer

Lord God, I open my heart to Your Holy Spirit to nurture and lead me, for Your ways are just and true.

Read Micah 6:1-16

[1] Listen to what the LORD says: “Stand up, plead my case before the mountains; let the hills hear what you have to say. [2] “Hear, you mountains, the LORD’s accusation; listen, you everlasting foundations of the earth. For the LORD has a case against his people; he is lodging a charge against Israel. [3] “My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me. [4] I brought you up out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. I sent Moses to lead you, also Aaron and Miriam. [5] My people, remember what Balak king of Moab plotted and what Balaam son of Beor answered. Remember your journey from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of the LORD.” [6] 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? [7] Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? [8] He has shown you, O mortal, 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. [9] Listen! The LORD is calling to the city- and to fear your name is wisdom- “Heed the rod and the One who appointed it. [10] Am I still to forget your ill-gotten treasures, you wicked house, and the short ephah, which is accursed? [11] Shall I acquit someone with dishonest scales, with a bag of false weights? [12] Your rich people are violent; your inhabitants are liars and their tongues speak deceitfully. [13] Therefore, I have begun to destroy you, to ruin you because of your sins. [14] You will eat but not be satisfied; your stomach will still be empty. You will store up but save nothing, because what you save I will give to the sword. [15] You will plant but not harvest; you will press olives but not use the oil, you will crush grapes but not drink the wine. [16] You have observed the statutes of Omri and all the practices of Ahab’s house; you have followed their traditions. Therefore I will give you over to ruin and your people to derision; you will bear the scorn of the nations.”

Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright &copy 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.&reg Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Meditate

“Therefore, I urge you … in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God–this is your spiritual act of worship” (Rom. 12:1).

Think Further

The Lord has a case against Israel, and its essence is ingratitude (1-5), a recurrent biblical theme. Nathan confronts an adulterous, murderous David with the reproach that his behavior was no way to respond to all that the Lord had done for him (2 Sam. 12:1-10). Jesus asks why only one out of ten healed lepers bothered to give thanks for their healing (Luke 17:11-19). The theme recurs in Scripture because it recurs in life: we so easily take for granted all that the Lord has done for us and given to us.

This raises the question: if I do want to respond rightly to God, and offer thanks in true worship, what form should this take (6a)? Micah handles the question in terms of Israel’s sacrificial worship. Should one offer regular sacrifices (6b)? Or should one offer regular sacrifices many times over, on the assumption that the more the better (7a)? Or should one even give to God the most valuable sacrifice imaginable, which in that ancient context would be the firstborn son, the focus of hope for the future (7b)? The answer is simpler and more searching, because it involves not a one-time giving but a way of living, with our lives displaying God’s own priorities: justice and mercy, not played off against each other, but practiced together in the context of a self-effacing daily discipleship (8).

There follows a reproach of Israelites whose treasure is not in heaven (with God and God’s priorities), but rather in corrupt and deceitful practices. People do such things to acquire treasure for themselves, but the result is like what Micah said earlier about corrupt complacency making the divine presence dangerous (3:9-12): the more they do such things, the less they will have and the emptier they will be (13-16).

Apply

What does it mean to “act justly” and “love mercy” and “walk humbly”? Do you?

Closing prayer

Loving Lord, help me to show my gratitude to You in the way I live my life each day.

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