Walk Humbly With Your God

This is another contribution from G-pa.

You have been told, O man, what is good, and what the LORD requires of you: Only to do the right and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:8)

On a wall in my office, there is a prayer written by Thomas Merton which, at times, I make my own. In it he prays, “My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going; I do not see the road ahead of me. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.”

The people of the Old Testament knew how important it was to please God. The Israelites’ covenant with Him had made them the Chosen People. But after all He had done for His people by bringing them out of Egypt and freeing them from a life of slavery, they often failed to live by His law and follow His commandments. Around 700 B.C. the prophet Micah preached tirelessly, warning the people of God’s growing anger and the judgment that was coming. The people asked Micah what they could do to please God. “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?Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” (Micah 6:6-7)

I have often asked myself a similar question; what more can I do to please God? I know that God isn’t asking me to sacrifice a thousand rams, but my desire is to please Him in some concrete way. Like so many of my brothers and sisters in the parish, I have found that there are many ways to please God: through prayer and spiritual reading, through daily Mass, Reconciliation and Adoration. All these things, along with service to my community and my Church, have brought me closer to God. But sometimes I still feel there is more I should do. The answer Micah gave the people was very simple. “You have been told, O man, what is good, and what the LORD requires of you: Only to do the right and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8). This is what God requires of me on a daily basis. It is about who I am as well as what I do. It is about living out my faith and putting my beliefs into practice. It means allowing God to take me by the hand and lead me through my day. Even though, like Merton, I cannot see the road ahead of me, I continue to cling to Him and trust in His goodness and mercy.