To Love Mercy

He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you; but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.  Micah 6:8

Micah was a prophet who had received a word of the Lord and was commissioned to proclaim it.  The people Micah was proclaiming this too were a corrupt society.  They were cheating one another and turning away from God.  This verse was part of a string of rhetorical questions but this particular verse takes all the laws of God and condenses them down to three:  Do justly, love mercy and walk humbly with your God. 

Micah was directing the people away from the external acts (sacrifices), to the underlying attitudes that must accompany true worship and followers of God.  Micah was saying, ‘God showed you (through his word) what the heck you are supposed to be about.  Be Just.  Love Mercy.  Walk humbly WITH God. Not rocket science people!’

Yesterday at lunch, my friend asked me to write a little about what it means to Love Mercy.  She got the whole justice thing, ya gotta be fair.  And walking humbly with God, clearly the call of the Christ follower but this LOVE MERCY thing….help me pull it apart. She has the gift of mercy but does she LOVE MERCY? 

Mercy is the attitude we have towards those in distress.  You can’t really love mercy with out doing justice first.  Justice doesn’t allow you to ignore the reality of the world.  Doing justice is not ignoring oppression or injustice.  It is doing what is right, walking with integrity, rendering to all their due as our relation and obligation.  Not wronging others.  Provide Equity and protect innocent.

Mercy started with God.  Grace describes Gods attitude toward law breakers, Mercy is His attitude to those in distress.  Mercy then comes from a just attitude.  Mercy is the compassionate consideration of the feelings and needs of others, with a sincere desire to do them good. 

I like how John Gill’s expository says it best:

Not only to show mercy to miserable objects, to persons in distress, to relieve the poor and indigent; to clothe the naked and feed the hungry but to DELIGHT in such exercises.

To Love Mercy, is to be glad of an opportunity to be merciful and delight in it.  Love mercy not only to do what justice requires but also what mercy, kindness and charity require.

These things can’t be done outside of walking humbly with God.  Depending all on God, for every thing. Every attitude, every need met, every situation rectified, every solution God’s, every bit of courage and strength and fortitude to be given by God him self…..

….to do justly.

….to LOVE MERCY.

….to walk humbly with your God.