Micah 6:1-8 (NRSV)
Read Micah 6:1-8 on biblegateway.com
Chapter 6Hear what the Lord says: Rise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice. Verse 2Hear, you mountains, the controversy of the Lord, and you enduring foundations of the earth; for the Lord has a controversy with his people, and he will contend with Israel. Verse 3"O my people, what have I done to you? In what have I wearied you? Answer me! Verse 4For I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and redeemed you from the house of slavery; and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. Verse 5O my people, remember now what King Balak of Moab devised, what Balaam son of Beor answered him, and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the saving acts of the Lord."
Verse 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? Verse 7Will 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?" Verse 8He 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?
Devotion
I have never in my life had a desire to get a tattoo, but I can see how they can sometimes become conversation starters or they can be a sign of what a person most treasures. If I were going to get a tattoo, I think the last verse of this reading would be a good one.
In these days, which are often fraught, we can easily feel stressed and feel powerless. To do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with our God can be a rooted but practical guide for daily living. These could be thought of as corresponding to the greater gifts of which St. Paul writes in First Corinthians 13. An active form of faith is to walk humbly with God. An active form of hope would be to do justice, and an active form of love is to show kindness. How good it would be if all people of faith were to display these as signs of what we most treasure.
Prayer
God of love and mercy, help us not to become overwhelmed by the amount of injustice, cruelty, or disbelief in God in our world. Teach us the wisdom of living our faith in simple, caring and prayerful ways. Amen.
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