Welcome to this Daily PBJ devotional. Read 1 Chronicles 29 and Micah 6 today. This devotional is about Micah 6. Hear now what the Lord says. Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice. Hear, O mountains, the Lord's indictment, you enduring foundations of the earth. For the Lord has a case against his people, and he will argue it against Israel. My people, what have I done to you? Testify against me how I have wearied you. For I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and redeemed you from the house of slavery. I sent Moses before you, as well as Aaron and Miriam. My people, remember what Balak, king of Moab, counseled, and what Balaam, son of Beor, answered. Remember your journey from Shittim to Gilgal, so that you may acknowledge the righteousness of the Lord. With what shall I come before the Lord, when I bow before the God on high? Should I come to him with burnt offerings, with year-old calves? Would the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has shown you, O man, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. The voice of the Lord calls out to the city, and it is sound wisdom to fear your name. Heed the rod and the one who ordained it. Can I forget any longer, O house of the wicked, the treasures of wickedness, and the short ephah which is accursed? Can I excuse dishonest scales, or bags of false weights? For the wealthy of the city are full of violence, and its residents speak lies, their tongues are deceitful in their mouths. Therefore I am striking you severely, to ruin you because of your sins. You will eat, but not be satisfied, And your hunger will remain with you. What you acquire you will not preserve, And what you save I will give to the sword. You will sow, but not reap. You will press olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil. You will tread grapes, but not drink the wine. You have kept the statutes of Omri, and all the practices of Ahab's house. You have followed their counsel. Therefore I will make you a desolation, and your inhabitants an object of contempt. You will bear the scorn of the nations. This is God's word. I was named unjustly in a lawsuit once in my life years ago, and the suit was withdrawn a few days later after the two main parties worked out a deal. Those few days when I thought I was getting sued were stressful, especially since the plaintiff suing me was a lawyer. If you've ever been sued or ever been on a jury or served as a witness in a courtroom, you know how stressful lawsuits can be. But imagine being sued by the Lord. That's what's happening here in Micah 6. This is a covenant lawsuit brought by God against His people. Verse 1 commanded Micah to initiate the lawsuit with the mountains serving as the jury. The earth was created before humanity was, so the mountains were personified in this chapter as witnesses to all that the Lord had done for His people. We saw that in verse 2. In verse 3, God asks the people of Israel why they have broken faith with him. The question in the second line, how have I burdened you, is an interesting one. It assumes that God's people looked on his laws as burdensome and felt that serving him was difficult. God responded in verse 4a and b by reminding them that he relieved them of the true burden, the burden of slavery in Egypt. God also reviewed how he sent them leadership through Moses, Aaron, and Miriam in verse 4c through d. Then God told them again how he protected them from the oracles of Balaam in verses 5a-c and in their journey to the promised land. We saw that in verse 5. Israel responded in verses 6 and 7 like a defendant would in a lawsuit. The implied question of these verses is, okay Lord, how much do you want to settle this thing out of court? The offer kept escalating. Verse 7 says, how about thousands of rams? No, okay, how about 10,000 rivers of oil? That's verse 7b. Not good enough? Okay, then how about a human sacrifice? That's verse 7c and d. Verse 8 responds that the Lord wants a few basic things from his people, namely justice, mercy, and to walk with God. Justice is about doing what is right and fair to others, regardless of whether they're rich or poor, family or enemy. Mercy is about showing kindness to people who deserve justice but are repentant. It also means showing kindness to people in need, even though you don't have any legal or family obligations to them. And then thirdly, walking with God means loving Him, worshiping Him daily, and following in His ways by obeying His word. The concepts outlined in Micah 6 verse 8 are easy. Living them out daily is hard. It is hard because of our sin nature. We like to favor people that we like or people who can help us. We like to punish people who have mistreated us, even if they're repentant. We also like to sometimes ignore people who have needs, because getting involved with people with needs can be messy. Finally, walking with God is tough, because we are, naturally speaking, enemies of God because of our sin nature. This passage then describes the absolute need we all have for God to save us. If God were to sue us for our sins, there's no settlement we could bring and nothing that we can do to save ourselves. We are guilty and unable to give our way out of the guilt. In Christ, however, we have both the forgiveness of sins that the gifts described in verse 7 could never buy for us, and we also have the ability now to walk with God by faith. and to do justice and show mercy in this life. This is what Christ has done for us. Instead of settling the suit, he came and paid the penalty for our sins and then gave us the ability not to get sued again by having his righteousness and working it out in our lives. How's your growth in Christ doing? Are you living a just life, being fair to all people, and then showing mercy to the repentant and to those who are in need? Are you walking with God daily and worshiping Him in your heart and with your life? Think about these questions today, and I'll see you next time. May God bless you. Hope you have a great day today.