He has told you, O man, what is good, and what the LORD really wants from you: He wants you to carry out justice, to love faithfulness, and to live obediently before your God.
Into the Text
What does the Lord require of you? It is one of those questions that has a way of getting straight to the point and right to the heart of what matters. I love how simple and practical Micah’s answer is.
Act justly. Love kindness. Walk humbly with your God.
Notice what Micah doesn’t say. He doesn’t say be perfect, have it all together, and make sure to impress everyone around you. No, just three simple ways to live. Two of the three things Micah lists are exactly what we have been studying all week long.
Kindness and humility. They are inseparable, and they both flow from the same surrendered heart.
Here is what I have come to understand about walking humbly with God. Humility is the soil in which patience and kindness grow. When we walk humbly, we stop demanding that life move at our pace. We stop treating others as less worthy of kindness than we are. We stop making everything about ourselves.
Humility and kindness at work looks like letting someone else go first in traffic, in conversation, and in recognition. It looks like choosing to listen more than you speak. It looks like serving behind the scenes, without needing to be noticed…or thanked. It looks like extending patience to the person who is taking longer than you think they should.
Joseph walked humbly through the pit, prison, and palace. He didn’t demand justice for himself. He didn’t rush God’s timeline. He simply kept walking obediently with God, one faithful day at a time. Over the years, God produced patience and kindness in him that ultimately saved an entire nation.
You don’t have to have it all figured out today. You simply have to walk with God, humbly and faithfully, one small, obedient step at a time.
Act justly. Love kindness. Walk humbly. That is enough.