Micah 6:8 He has showed you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you, but to do justly, and to love mercy… 1. Has God any claims upon you? Has He a right to require anything of you, if it should seem good to Him to do so? 2. Does He exercise this right? Has He actually required anything? In the Bible you find God everywhere speaking imperatively to His creatures, giving them not merely counsels, but authoritative counsels and commands. 3. What are the claims which God asserts? What doth the Lord require of thee? Thy supreme love, thy choicest affections, thy whole heart, and whatever else such a love disposes to and draws after it. God has given rules for the regulation not only of our external conduct, and all of it, but of our speech, our thoughts, our motives, our principles of action, and of all the various modifications of feeling. 4. What is the character of these claims of God? (1) They are reasonable. Their reason ableness may be inferred from their reality. God is incapable of making an unreasonable demand. (2) They are particular. They are made on you as an individual, and not in any social capacity. God addresses His commands singly to each one. (3) His claims are paramount. In every comparison they deserve to have the preeminence; in every competition the preference. (4) His claims are impartial. God asserts them with respect to every intelligent being, and with respect to each the same. (5) His claims are unalterable. We may change, but not they. Our duty is the same, whatever our character. God cannot lower His demands to adapt them to our inclinations or disabilities. Then how have we treated His claims? Have we done as He has required? Remember, there is a penalty threatened on him who disregards them. The claims of justice are prior to the claims of mercy. You ought to comply with His explicit and authoritative claims upon you. And you ought to comply at once, and fully. (W. Nevins, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? |
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