Micah 6:8 He has showed you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you, but to do justly, and to love mercy… These words are the answer of the Almighty, by the mouth of His prophet, to the cry of one of old, whose difficulties in his religious course appeared too great for him. God demands from him no impossible service — no countless sacrifices, no rivers of oil; He but bids him walk in the way in which all may walk who will — the paths of justice, mercy, and humility. The very terms in which the requirement is made imply that the work is far from an impracticable one. God speaks in mercy and tenderness. Upon the ease with which His precepts may be obeyed He founds a claim, surely a most touching and irresistible claim, to obedience. Was the doing justly, loving mercy, and walking with God a thing practicable for the few, — living in the dawn only of the day spring; and can it be impossible for you, the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus — you, upon whom the Sun of Righteousness hath risen in all His glory? God never set a man any work which he could not perform. He never yet bade His servant to do His will, and withheld from him the power of doing it. If you ask how a man, awakened to a sense of religion, may set himself to do the will of God, you must bear in mind the twofold principle of pure grace and free will. You must never lose sight of your own utter inability to do anything of yourselves apart from the grace and power of God. If we would work the works of God it must be in the might of God. But you must not rest satisfied with praying for grace; you must not relax in your own exertions to serve and obey God. When we think how great a task is set before us we may well rejoice that we have many promises that it is not an impossible one. We should see that the seeming impossibilities had been all of our own imagining. Though we are never, to remit our watchfulness, nor to forget our danger of again falling into sin, if we be true to God, we shall find each additional act of self sacrifice made in obedience to His will a source of peace and comfort to us. (G. W. Brameld.) Parallel Verses KJV: He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? |
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