What is Required? Part 3

He has told you, O man, what is good;

And what does the Lord require of you

But to do justice, to love kindness,

And to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8)

O Man or Woman, what is required of you? Today we take a look at the last phrase of this passage about walking humbly with God. After looking at Jesus’ form of upside down justice and considering what Christian kindness means and looks like, it seems possible that the phrase “to walk humbly with God” has deeper meaning as well.

I would suggest that this is so much more than the third element of what the Lord requires. Let’s dissect this phrase to look deeper into God’s requirement for those of us who call ourselves Jesus Followers. 

In this post, I will take a look at both what it means to walk humbly and then what it looks like to walk with your God. 

Let’s first look at living a humble life—or a life of humility. The Hebrew of the word humbly here means to live modestly. We can define that as living an unassuming life or a life of humility. 

A life of humility is the opposite of a life of pride or arrogance. Let’s take a look at what Scripture says about the notion of pride vs. humility. 

James 4:6 says, 

But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

I love the CS Lewis quote that says, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.” 

Scripture is full of passages that contrast humility and pride. Here, I am going to zero in on one element of walking humbly. James gives us a clue to what humility looks like in human interactions when he writes in James 3:13

Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. (James 3:13)

This notion of gentleness of wisdom strikes me as interacting in humility. It is a wisdom that does not insist on its own way, or tries to convince another person of the rightness of argument. It is wisdom that allows for diverse thinking and approaches to life. It is wisdom that thinks less of self.

This kind of wisdom that comes from Heaven,. It is able to speak truth in love. That leads me to the second dissection point—that of walking with your God. The only way we can consistently live in humility is by staying in the Presence of the Lord to seek His wisdom—wisdom that is from the Lord reflects humility. 

James describes it this way: 

 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. (James 3:17)

It is no accident that these passages on wisdom come just after James writes about the power of the tongue (James 3:1–13). Words matter. We show others that we care about doing justice, loving kindness, walking humbly, and living in the Presence of God when we operate in wisdom from above.

Let you words and behavior be filled with pureness, peace, gentleness, reason, mercy. Be unwavering in your faith, without hypocrisy and you bear fruit in the Kingdom that reflects what God requires of you. You reflect the Kingdom of Forgiveness that Jesus brought. You show kindness that comes from a heart of compassion, love, and mercy. Finally you humbly show that you walk with God. 

The only way we can do what God requires of us is to stay in His Presence and allow Holy Spirit to direct our words and our steps. The good news is that He is available and stands ready to do just that. 

Hallelujah!