Obedience Matters

Friday, September 11, 2026 | Archie Engledow

Micah

Imagine being in a courtroom standing before God. You are guilty of exploiting the poor, selfishly pursuing your own interests, rebelling against God’s authority, and rejecting the prophets who were speaking truth to you. God then reminds you of His faithfulness, His covenant, and how He has guided, protected, and provided for you.

Your response is, “I need to give more worship, more offerings, and sacrifice more of my time and efforts.”

God’s response is simply, “Do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with Me.”

Which, unfortunately, is the total opposite of how you have been living. Because of this guilt, judgment is coming.

This is essentially a summary of Micah 6. God is asking for obedience over sacrifice. He wants His people to live lives that measure up to His moral and ethical standards. Many of God’s people in Micah’s time failed to live up to those standards. God had delivered the Israelites from Egypt and established them as a nation. He called them to be a model society that would attract others to Himself (Deuteronomy 4). Instead, they exploited the poor and pursued their own personal gain and interests.

Despite their crimes, many Israelites thought their sacrifices were pleasing to God. Micah confronted their crimes and their faulty way of thinking because their sacrifices meant nothing without true obedience to God.

Micah 6:8 lays out what God required of them: “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

God is asking the same of us.

We can easily get busy with coming to church, tithing, serving others, and doing all the “right” things while our hearts are far from God. We can be doing all these acts of worship and still have a bitter, resentful, selfish, or prideful heart.

May the Lord help us confess where we fall short and, as Proverbs 4:23 says, “keep your heart with all vigilance.”