I’ve been revisiting the prophet Micah’s words on how to please God. “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?” (Micah 6:8 NKJV)

Today, I want to focus on the last of these three “requirements:” to walk humbly with your God. As with the first two, this last requirement may seem simple and straightforward, but it is much easier said than done.

Let’s break it down to its component parts:

• WALK– this is another action word. “Being” humble, even acting humble will look good and may even impress others. But God requires that we walk in humility–daily, consistently, and deliberately act in accordance with our status vis-a-vis both God and our fellow human beings. And we are to walk– not run or sprint (or crawl)–steadily, not in fits and starts, not trying to outdo our neighbor, but not meandering without purpose, either.

• HUMBLY–not in pride, but also not in false humility or in humiliation and self-loathing. The late, apologist, Ravi Zacharias, used to quote another great Christian apologist, Edward Musgrave Blaiklock: “God alone knows how to humble us without humiliating us and how to exalt us without flattering us.” We cannot walk humbly in our own effort or insight or will. We cannot allow others’ opinions to determine the worth that God alone has given us. And we cannot allow our opinions to outweigh God’s judgment about others. There is no place in our walk for prejudice, finger-pointing, or being judgmental. We CAN boldly speak truth about dangerous or unrighteous behaviors, but we should never place someone else’s bad behavior above God’s LOVE for them as a person, OR above the Grace He has to lavish upon them.

• WITH–we will never walk where God cannot go, or will not find us. But we can choose to walk apart from God; to ignore justice and mercy, or redefine God’s commands, or reject God’s grace and wisdom in favor of our own “moral compass.”

• YOUR GOD– we can believe ourselves to be walking humbly and justly in our own eyes; we can follow counselors or gurus, or “religious” leaders; we can make a practice of doing “righteous” actions, and still be practicing idolatry. We cannot please God if we don’t even know Him; we cannot walk with Him if he is merely an idea we aspire to worship. God does not want adulation from afar; He created us for intimacy with Himself and with each other. It pleases Him to be our Father– not our adversary.

Father, help us to walk humbly with you today– to enjoy the peace and fellowship of learning from You, practicing Justice toward others, delighting in Your Mercy, and resting in Your presence as we go through the day. Thank You for making it possible for us to walk with You, talk with You, and call ourselves “Your Own!”