Thursday, November 6, 2008
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God's Will for Our Lives
"He has showed you, O man, what is good, and what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God" (Micah 6:8).
We often ask what God's will is for our lives? What is it that he wants me to do? And, we wish that God would just lay it out plain in black and white. Do this. Don't do that. Wouldn't really specific guidance be nice? Maybe. But then, where would be the place or what would be the need for faith? If faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1) and without faith, it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6) and "blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed" (John 20:29), then maybe we will never "know" God's specific will for us and are supposed to simply "trust" him and even ourselves.
At the same time, in our search for the specific will of God, do we miss all of the things in scripture that God has declared to be his will, the things that we should do? And I wonder, if we focused more on all of these things, whether the specific will of God for you and me would become more clear in the process of fulfilling what he has already showed us that he wants us to do? I think so. He has showed us what is good and what he requires of us in this verse, one among many, out of the clear revelation of the Bible.
Of all the things that God is, one of the core realities of God is the foundation of justice or righteousness (Zephaniah 3:5 and many others). This is what gives rightness, fairness, and stability to society. Without this there would be lawlessness, anarchy, and all kind of evil, for nothing would be wrong. God has a profound sense of right and wrong and so should we. He wants us to be like him, we are created in his image and likeness, and so in the process of walking that out, he requires us "to act justly." We should be people who stand up for others when they are mistreated, we should be the people who right the wrongs of society, we should have a strong sense of what is just and right. God says that this is good and he requires us to be this kind of people. We are to do justice.
At the same time, and a good thing too for we would all be lost without this, God is a merciful God. In fact, his mercy triumphs over judgment (James 2:13). God sent Jesus into the world to pay the penalty, to satisfy the righteous demands of the law that says that the wages of sin is death (Romans 3:23), so that justice having been fulfilled, he could remain just but also be the justifier, the one who extends grace and forgiveness to sinners (Romans 3:24-26). We are to act justly, but notice what is good and what God requires of us, that just like him we must not allow our sense of justice to prevail: we are to love mercy. Yes, do justice, but love mercy! Zephaniah 3:5 says that "morning by morning he dispenses justice, and every new day he does not fail," however, there is something else, even stronger that walks alongside justice, "because of the LORD's great love/mercy we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness" (Lamentations 3:22-23). We should be, like him, lovers of mercy. We should forgive, extend grace, believe in others, go the second mile with everyone — it is what he does for you and me!
Finally, we are to walk humbly with our God. With him. As a God of justice and mercy, we follow in his footsteps. And the same compassion and tenderness, grace and forgiveness that we have received, we share with others. At the same time, walking humbly is to admit that there are instances in which we cannot work for justice the way that we would like to. But with God, we can do much more. In fact, God can do way beyond what we could ask or think or imagine, and when we ask in humility, he comes to our rescue and the rescue of those for whom we intercede. Then there will be those times when we know that the grace and mercy that others need is for whatever reason just not in us to give. God help me, to be to this other one what they need. Give me the strength or endurance or patience or whatever else I need to be Jesus to them. He will. And his Holy Spirit will come and minister directly to that person as well. Walking humbly with God is doing what we can and then acknowledging that he will have to do the rest.
This is the will of God for you and me. This day and each day that God gives us. We don't have to question it ever. When we do these things, we will never go wrong or be outside of the will of God. And probably, when we walk in justice and mercy toward others and humility toward God the specifics of what God wants us to do with our lives will come clearer. He has shown us, simply, and now it is up to us, granted with all of the help that he supplies, to walk it out by faith, whether we see or not! In reality, it is a lot simpler than we think!
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