Faith Formation: Micah - Justice, Kindness, humility

He has told you, O mortal, what is good, and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8

The obvious word to focus on is "humbly" or humility. Just as important, maybe more so is the word "walk." "Just a closer walk with thee, grant it Jesus is my plea; daily walking close to thee, Let it be, dear Lord, let it be." The Hebrew word "walk" is "halak." Halakah is the way of God with us from the first morning God walked walked with Adam in the garden at the time of the evening breeze. It remained the way of God with us after God walking in the garden learned of Adam and Eve's hubris to become like God so they could walk alone in their own way. Of one of Adam's descendants it is said, "Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him." Genesis 5:24 The Law of God, the Torah, was a way of going with or walking with God. Life is a journey of walking with God. Many walk on religious pilgrimages like the Camino de Santiago in Spain. For others daily walks are their time of prayer, reflection and sorting things out. One may not think that God accompanies our walks, but God is with us every step of the way. On the day of the resurrection Jesus went for a walk with two disciples who were sorting out their experience of the last few days. They did not realize until they got home that they had been walking with God. Walking is slow. Walking gives one time to think. The wise walk. Fools go fast. Soren Kierkegaard wrote of his life of walking, "Above all, do not lose your desire to walk ... every day I walk myself into a state of well being and walk away from every illness; I have walked myself into my best thoughts, and I know of no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it." Walk with yourself, walk with others, walk with your dog, in every instance,"... walk humbly with God."

The other key word is "humbly" or humble/humility. On the one hand the word humble is connected to the word humus, soil. It can mean well grounded or down to earth. Human is also based on the word humus. In the early stories of Genesis human being is called "adam" or "adamah," earthling. Adam is formed of the dust of the earth, receiving life only when God breathes the breath of life, spirit into adam. In Genesis 1 both male and female are "adam." We are neither more than creatures of the earth like all others, nor less for we all depend on the earth, breath its air and perish from it to return to dust.

Micah did not use the word "adam" in "walk humbly with your God." Micah used the word, "seneh" It's sense is "modesty." Purposefully while I capitalized Justice and Kindness, in these reflections, I used the lower case for humbly. Here is the sense of authenticity, not pretending to be something your are not, or aspiring to something that is above others. Modesty, along with humility, acknowledges the other with whom one walks and respects their views. Modesty is not primarily concerned about right versus wrong, but about being open to the conversation, to understand the person and situation, not just a rule. We walk humbly with a God who walks humbly with us. Life is a journey of conversation with God where we figure it out together. Earlier in the writing Micah asked a question that echoes all this. "Do not my words do good to one who walks uprightly?" Micah 2:7

What is good? To go for a walk, and to believe that God walks with us. To life modestly, in humility, close to the earth that gives us life. To understand that we are all making our way through this life together with all other things, both living and non-living, in the world God created good. C. S. Lewis wrote, "Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less." Maybe it is to say, walk with the earth, walk with others, walk with God, not just with yourself. This is what the LORD desires even more than what is required.

Do Justice. Love Kindness. Walk humbly with God.

Pastor Tim Bauer