Things To Live By
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Rules are important things.
There were a lot of rules when I learned to drive.
Even more when I was learning to fly.
We often chafe against rules,
But those very rules give us the freedom to live our lives.
The slave to the compass has the freedom of the seas.
God gave man just one rule to follow:
but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
Yet mankind couldn’t follow it, and we were cursed.
Then God gave us ten rules to follow:
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and be there; and I will give you tablets of stone, and the law and commandments which I have written, that you may teach them.”
But we couldn’t follow those either.
So the Pharisees and the Sadducees came up with 435 rules to help Israel follow the ten rules.
But Israel couldn’t keep those either.
Jesus whittled the rules down to two:
“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
Between the Pharisees and Jesus though, there was a prophet who gave us three rules to live by.
Three rules to help us fulfill the greatest commandments.
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?
What does the Lord require of us?
Do Justly
Do Justly
What does it mean to do justly?
The word in Hebrew translated “justly” literally means judgement or justice.
The determination of right and the assignment of rewards and punishment.
When God was on His way to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, He stopped by Abraham’s tent.
And the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing, since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him.”
Why did God tell Abraham what He was going to do?
That he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice.
God was giving Abraham an example.
That justice must be served.
But also that it must be just.
Which is why God allowed Abraham to negotiate for the city, and saved his nephew and his family.
It was right for Sodom and Gomorrah to be destroyed.
Not only did the people deserve to be punished for their sins,
But we today need to know that, no matter what we see happen, eventually God will bring judgement to those who have sinned.
But it was also right to protect those who were righteous.
To stand up and seek justice for others.
So how do we “do justly”?
Isaiah told us:
“Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil,
First, we must put away evil.
All of the washing, whether physical or spiritual, will do you no good if you just get right back down in the mud.
We start to do justly by stopping to do evil.
Learn to do good; Seek justice, Rebuke the oppressor; Defend the fatherless, Plead for the widow.
Then we learn to do good.
How do we do that?
Seek justice.
This is not a passive command.
It doesn’t say wait around for justice to come by,
We must SEEK it.
We must be looking for ways to bring justice to a situation.
Rebuke the oppressor.
Again, we must DO something.
It’s not enough to identify the oppressor,
We must rebuke him.
Literally, to lead someone.
To admonish or warn.
Expressing disapproval.
Lastly, Isaiah tells us to defend the fatherless and plead for widows
The most helpless among us.
Those who do not have someone to defend them.
Notice that to do justly, we must be active.
We must DO something.
We must actively seek justice.
Love Mercy
Love Mercy
Micah tells us to love mercy.
[checed /kheh·sed/] - goodness, kindness, faithfulness.
We are to love these things.
But “checed” also means a reproach, shame,
Mercy is not always agreeing with someone,
Sometimes the most merciful thing to do is reproach someone.
In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, went to him and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die, and not live.’ ”
It doesn’t sound like Isaiah gave Hezekiah much mercy does it?
But this is a time when we need to read the rest of the story.
Then he turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the Lord, saying, “Remember now, O Lord, I pray, how I have walked before You in truth and with a loyal heart, and have done what was good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
Look at what Isaiah’s rebuke led Hezekiah to do?
Not only to pray to God.
But to humbled himself before Him.
What happened next?
And it happened, before Isaiah had gone out into the middle court, that the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “Return and tell Hezekiah the leader of My people, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; surely I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord.
We’ll never know what would have happened in Isaiah had simply spoken comforting words to Hezekiah.
We do know, that Isaiah’s rebuke seems to have led Hezekiah to humble himself,
Which led God to heal him.
Sometimes, the most merciful word is not the most comforting.
Walk Humble With Your God
Walk Humble With Your God