How often do we as leaders experience frustration and, at the end of our patience, become so exasperated that we look upward and scream out “What do you want from me???!!”
As if we can see right through the clouds to the Father’s throne, with head and eyes lifted, arms outstretched, and fists clenched, we verbalize this momentary deep emotion of our soul. Often just wanting an opportunity to vent, we ask this rhetorical question skyward hoping the God of the universe will tell us we can back-off from the hard stuff we face. Or maybe we hope He’ll miraculously intervene and allow us to bypass the tough decision before us. Or maybe we just hope He’ll commiserate with us and tell us He’ll make an exception to what He requires of us this time.
As I opened my email to a devotion on Micah 6:8, I was struck with how clearly the Father makes known what He wants from us…
DO what is right.
LOVE mercy.
WALK humbly with your God.
Well, that’s pretty clear!
No matter how difficult or unconventional the step is we need to take, or how weird our friends will think we are when we act upon it, He requires that we DO what is right.
Even when dislike or disapproval are working hard to push to the surface of our thoughts and our actions, He requires that we LOVE mercy.
When we’re tempted to run through the day without more than a brief mutter to our Savior, read a verse and a few lines of narrative instead of bathe ourselves in His Word, or think how much more important our agenda is than His, He requires that we WALK humbly with our God.
No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:8
How’s the doing good, the loving mercy, and the walking humbly with God going in your shepherding journey?
