God’s Desire

This morning as I started to do my prayer and Bible Study I looked at K-Loves encouraging word for March 10.  It was Micah 6:8. As I read it I thought God’s desire for us is so simple.  But it is so easy to get caught up in trying to figure it out on our own.  We make it so complicated.

Micah 6:6-8

I read a bit more than just the verse shared by K-Love.  The title in my translation was “What Does the Lord Require?”

⁶ “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?

⁷ 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?”

⁸ He has told you, O man, 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?

As I read this passage all I could think of was…  man, we complicate the simplest things.  I know this talks about sacrifice, but isn’t that like the struggle we have when we struggle to figure out what we must do to please God.

⁸ He has told you, O man, 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?

Walk Humbly with Your God

I thought about Micah 6:8 for a while this morning.  I looked at the cross-references as well.  First, it was Deuteronomy 10:12-13

12 “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good?

“Walk in all His ways” just sticks with me this morning.  It reminded me of a comment by Henry Blackaby in his Bible Study 'Experiencing God'…  I must paraphrase.

“Watch where God is working and join Him”

Walking with God

As I think about the simplicity of that statement by Blackaby and the verses in Micah and Deuteronomy this thought keeps running through my head… to walk with Him we must seek to know Him.

We cannot know His will if we do not know Him.  To know Him we must seek Him in His Word and in Prayer.

Hosea 6:6

I did a couple searches in knowing God…  googled it…  and I found several verses but the first that stuck for me was Hosea 6:6

⁶ For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,

the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

The title of Hosea 6 in my translation is “Israel and Judah Are Unrepentant”.  All through the chapter God speaks through Hosea and relates all the rebellious things that they have done and right in the middle of the chapter He says…

⁶ For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,

the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

Psalm 51

I went to Psalm 51 and read it.  It is a cry for forgiveness, (a Psalm that I go to when my struggles get the best of me), and when I got to verses 16-19 there again am I reminded of God’s desire…

¹⁶ For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.

¹⁷ The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;

a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

¹⁸ Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;

build up the walls of Jerusalem;

¹⁹ then will you delight in right sacrifices,

in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;

then bulls will be offered on your altar.

As I read through these verses I see an order to things…  First, we must humble ourselves to God.  Seek to know Him before all things.  A broken and contrite heart means more to Him than any sacrifice.

Ephesians 2

All of this brought me to Ephesians 2.  This is one of my favorite chapters in God’s Word.  It speaks of how lost we had been in our flesh but God saved us through His Son Jesus Christ…Ephesians 2:8-10 (ESV)

 ⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast. ¹⁰ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Verse 10 really speaks to me…  When I read this verse I realize that God has laid out works for me.  If I will draw close to Him he will reveal to me His desire for my life.  I am His workmanship…

10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

He has prepared the works for me.

Closing

I look at all these passages and the quote by Henry Blackaby and I see that my path to knowing God’s will for me is first knowing Him.  Humbling myself before Him knowing that I am broken without Him.  A slave to my flesh.  My hunger is to grow close to Him and my path is in His Holy Word.

My last passage is 1 John 2:3-6 (ESV)

³ And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. ⁴ Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, ⁵ but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: ⁶ whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

Prayer

Father, help me to draw near to you through your Holy Word.  Strengthen me that my Love for you may grow and my worries diminish. Lord help me that all my trust might rest in you, that I might walk with you in all that I do… in Jesus name Amen…