Close To You, God

“He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, and to love kindness and mercy, and to humble yourself and walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8 Amp.) In this world of “dog eat dog,” “getting your just reward,” “your first after me,” “if it feels good – do it” and situational ethics it is hard to fulfill “what the Lord requires of us” if we do not know, understand and hide God’s Word in our hearts. If we don’t strive to keep the two greatest Commandments to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind and your neighbor as yourself,” (Matt.22:37-40), we cannot live as the Lord requires us to live. If we love God and our neighbor in these ways we will, by virtue of the Law of Love, be keeping all the other Commandments. If we love God with all our hearts, souls and minds we will: 1) not put anything before or above Him – He is first in all of our choices and “loves.” 2) we will not make or bow down to anything made by our hands. 3) we will not take His name in falsehood or without purpose. His name is holy and precious and powerful. 4) remember and set aside the Sabbath day to keep it holy and separate from all other days for rest and worship. If we “love others as ourselves” we will: 1) honor our mother and our father. This Commandment comes with a promise – “that your days may be prolonged and it may go well with you.” 2) not murder them. 3) not commit adultery with them, 4) not steal from them, 5) not lie about them. 6) not covet our neighbor’s spouse, his house, his field, his servant, his animals, or anything that belongs to him/her. This is the “Law of Love! If we walk in the Law of Love we will “do” all that is required of us. The Word of God tells us “what is good and what the Lord requires of us.” To “do” things to gain our salvation is against the law of “grace” (Eph.2:8-9). But there are some “right things” we must do after our salvation to become more like Jesus and “conforming” to His will and commandments. The first thing we must “do” is spoken plainly in Micah 6:8 is “to do justly.” Webster tells us that to do justly is “conforming to the truth.” The world wants us to conform and fit into its mold (which isn’t God’s “truth.”) God’s Truth is spoken clearly in His Word - “The sum of Your Word is Truth (the total of the full meaning of all Your individual precepts); and every one of Your righteous decrees endures forever.” (Ps.119:60) Truth never changes nor passes away! “To do justly” is social justice; it is loving your neighbor as yourself (Matt.7:12); and is to become more like Jesus and walk closer to Him and fellowship with Him. The next thing for us to “do” that God says in Micah 6:8 is to “love mercy.” To be merciful is to be “compassionate to an offender – it is restrained justice” (Webster). The offender may deserve so much more and harsher punishment, but mercy says, “Not so much, not so hard, not so long, I will restrain justice.” What if we were the offender (and we are), would we want mercy instead of full justice? This is God’s mercy toward us! Because of our sins we deserve the full wrath of God’s justice, but He sent Jesus to receive His wrath for our sins. When we love mercy, we love our neighbor who has offended, just as we love ourselves and in the process we love God, Who is a merciful God. By loving mercy we become more like the Father and can walk close to Him and fellowship with Him. The third thing that God requires of us is to “walk humbly with your God.” Did you notice the word “with” in this scripture? God doesn’t want us to walk ahead of Him making our own way; nor does He want us to be straggling behind or aloof, but He ways for us to walk “with” Him (by His side). How can we possibly walk close with Him if we are proud and haughty? No, He requires a humble spirit; a spirit that recognizes that He is the infinite God of the universe and we are just one of His finite creations. We must acknowledge that the scope of His thoughts, ways, knowledge, wisdom, purity, mercy, holiness and love are so far above ours that we can never reach His height. We must understand that He is all powerful and without His power enabling us, we could do nothing, and that it is only because He strengthens us that we can do anything and all things He asks of us. We must realize that all that we are and all we have belong to Him – He has just loaned them to us for a while. What an unfathomable privilege to walk “with” Him, close enough for Him to whisper His love, mercy, peace, hope and joy into our hearts. What precious fellowship to walk “with” God our Father. But this could not happen if we have an inkling of known pride in our hearts. We would have to be a fool to think this magnanimous God would want to walk and talk with us if we presumed on His love by “thinking of ourselves higher than we ought.” We may have blind spots of pride, but we should daily pray as David did in Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me thoroughly, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts and see if there is any wicked or hurtful way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Only then can we fellowship and “walk humbly with our God!” Close To Thee (Fanny J. Crosby) Thou my everlasting portion, more than friend, or life, to me; All along my pilgrim journey, Savior, I would walk with Thee. Close to Thee, Close to Thee, All along life’s pilgrim journey, Savior, let me walk with Thee.