6 “With what shall I come before the Lord,
and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
⁷ Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousands of 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 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?”

In the text above, God shows Israel how to respond to Him properly. God indicated all he had done (Micah 6:1-5), delivering them from Egypt, blessing them through Balaam while Balak sought to curse them, showing His strong hand throughout their history. God didn’t want their gold. God didn’t seek their sacrifices. God desired their obedience. God longed for their hearts.

Scripture indicates that God prefers obedience over sacrifice. Too often obedience seems boring to us. We opt to distinguish ourselves as being ultra committed to God by “sacrificing” for him. Certainly, at times, God calls us to sacrifice, even to the point of personal loss and hardship, for Him or for another. However, a God-honoring sacrifice is the result of obedience, not a means by which to repay a debt to God or endear him to bless us. God is not saying, “Hey Israel, look at all I’ve done for you, now pay up.” No, I believe what God is saying is, “Israel, I have cared for you well, trust me by obeying me.”

In all of this, I don’t mean to say that Christians are not to deny themselves, or that there is no place for sacrifice in a believer’s life. Absolutely, there is. Also, I realize none of us believe the blood of bulls or goats can cover our sin as it did in the OT. However, we do tend to manufacture these ridiculous notions that, while we receive salvation as a free gift of grace, we purchase our sanctification for a price. We allow Christ to cover the our sins and weaknesses when we were among the lost, but for some reason, we attempt to deal with our sins and weaknesses as a Christian in our own strength. Sanctification is a work of the Holy Spirit. Self-control is not a fruit of Casey, it is a fruit of the Spirit. We are able to live controlled lives because the Spirit dwells in us. We can choose to obey because we have been freed from sin’s bondage. It ties into last week’s post about humility. Obedience is recognizing and desiring God’s will over our own desires. Humility is a key component in true obedience.

God desires your obedience. God longs for your heart.

Sorry to end this in a cheesy way, but it is true. It is as simple as the song we all sang growing up…”Trust and obey, for there’s no other way, to be happy in Jesus, than to trust and obey.”