The Hard Yoke of Habits?
From Micah 6 – 3 O my people, what have I done to you? And how have I wearied you? Testify against me. 4 For I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, I redeemed you from the house of bondage; and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. 5 Oh my people, remember now what Pharaoh asked king of Moab counseled, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him, from Acacia Grove to Gilgal, that you may know the righteousness of the Lord." 6 With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the High God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? 7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 8 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?
"It is the general rule of the moral universe," discerns the astute Charles Spurgeon in Morning and Evening, "that those men prosper who do their work with all their hearts,." He contrasts, "Those are almost certain to fail who go to their labour leaving half their hearts behind them. God does not give harvests to idle men except harvests of thistles, nor is He pleased to send wealth to those who will not dig in the field to find its hid treasure. "
Micah hits on the same contrast under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and he telegraphs it right before the famous passage. There is almost a pleading quality to the Lord's question to and through the prophet in Micah 6:3. "How have I wearied you?" As if to go beyond even this in distinguishing joyful service to the Lord from its sometimes superficially similar service from obligation and fear, the Lord calls historical example to testify. Exhibit A of free, grateful service to the Lord stands up next to Exhibit B of actual, wearying service. Remember Egypt, He queries? THAT was animal service to avoid consequences. Serving Me is altogether different from the heart outward.
Watching this pre-show, then, this Scripturally strength, one of the verbs positively JUMPS out of Micah 6:8's famous triumvirate. We can nod toward doing justice out of a sense of obligation. Strangely, we can think ourselves walking more humbly with our God because we scuffle along with our head down. But not even we can convince ourselves we are LOVING MERCY out of our perpetually self-wearying spirit. Examining our hearts, our countenance, our testimony, the animation of our limbs to determine if we are really loving mercy takes us back to the pointed, loving question of Micah 6:3. If we are weary, to whom or to what do we attribute our weariness?
Do we thoughtlessly sweep our weariness under the general category of the sovereignty of God, attributing to Him the right and the capacity to drain us of all He puts into us? Or, do we consider our tender, Fatherly theology more carefully? Where we have known the slavery of a burdened spirit even briefly, we have also known Him to deliver us from it. Sorrow may last through the night, David concedes, but JOY comes in the morning. Have we moved on? Do we LOVE the morning's mercy all the more because we glanced at the alternative, because we are honest about our history which has included some chapters within which we didn't fully experience that mercy?
"It is the general rule of the moral universe," discerns the astute Charles Spurgeon in Morning and Evening, "that those men prosper who do their work with all their hearts,." He contrasts, "Those are almost certain to fail who go to their labour leaving half their hearts behind them. God does not give harvests to idle men except harvests of thistles, nor is He pleased to send wealth to those who will not dig in the field to find its hid treasure. "
Micah hits on the same contrast under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and he telegraphs it right before the famous passage. There is almost a pleading quality to the Lord's question to and through the prophet in Micah 6:3. "How have I wearied you?" As if to go beyond even this in distinguishing joyful service to the Lord from its sometimes superficially similar service from obligation and fear, the Lord calls historical example to testify. Exhibit A of free, grateful service to the Lord stands up next to Exhibit B of actual, wearying service. Remember Egypt, He queries? THAT was animal service to avoid consequences. Serving Me is altogether different from the heart outward.
Watching this pre-show, then, this Scripturally strength, one of the verbs positively JUMPS out of Micah 6:8's famous triumvirate. We can nod toward doing justice out of a sense of obligation. Strangely, we can think ourselves walking more humbly with our God because we scuffle along with our head down. But not even we can convince ourselves we are LOVING MERCY out of our perpetually self-wearying spirit. Examining our hearts, our countenance, our testimony, the animation of our limbs to determine if we are really loving mercy takes us back to the pointed, loving question of Micah 6:3. If we are weary, to whom or to what do we attribute our weariness?
Do we thoughtlessly sweep our weariness under the general category of the sovereignty of God, attributing to Him the right and the capacity to drain us of all He puts into us? Or, do we consider our tender, Fatherly theology more carefully? Where we have known the slavery of a burdened spirit even briefly, we have also known Him to deliver us from it. Sorrow may last through the night, David concedes, but JOY comes in the morning. Have we moved on? Do we LOVE the morning's mercy all the more because we glanced at the alternative, because we are honest about our history which has included some chapters within which we didn't fully experience that mercy?
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