You Have Been Told!

Micah 6:8 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?

How many times have you wondered or have been asked “What will you do with your life?” Or maybe you are in the process of searching for God’s Will… there are so many choices – and they all seem to be future and require much preparation.

The new year seemS to be a time when we are encouraged to ask, seek and knock for at least the next YEAR’S daily bread.

Please, do not misinterpret what I am saying here! When we are “led” to prepare and go to a mission field, or we are given specific passion for the use of our unique gifts we SHOULD fall on our knees and ask, seek, and knock… we SHOULD wrestle with God (like Jacob) until we are both blessed with His communion and physically touched by His hand to GO FORTH!

BUT for THIS day… (and every day), God’s Will has been, is, and always will be spoken with no change made for certain individuals or special circumstances or appointed times such as this.

Most of us would like to avoid the mundane “old news” directives and take a ride on the dramatic side of the river of life – the “fun stuff”. Just like children running out the door to play with their friends, we roll our eyes and barely listen (if at all) to the direction we KNOW BY HEART!

The new year is a great time to assess… to look back… to look at the here and now… to “plan” our future. But as I begin to take a look, let me not just listen to my own voice – or even the “other” voices that maintain rental space in my head. Let me listen for and hear ABBA… Daddy.

As I run outside to play, slamming the door because, “I KNOW all that ALREADY, let me instead, OPEN the door because I HEAR His voice “if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.” (Revelation 3:20)

This IS THE YEAR for a wrestling match. This year, 2017, there are three things I am going to wrestle with. Things I think I know already… things I don’t know but wish I did… and things that I definitely NEED to know.

It started this morning!

Micah 6:8 was the “Verse of the Day” in my Gateway Bible App. To me this is the best way to BEGIN any day… Breakfast bread!… give us this day our daily bread.

He has told you, O man, what is good; I thought I KNEW this already, but the Holy Spirit put a little Cayenne Pepper in the mix and the words jumped off the page iPad screen. “I told you, Mary!” 

I told you what I want… what I require of you.

Did I hear Him when He said it? Did I hear it the last four times I was reminded when I read the written recording?

What is Your Will for my life, Lord? What do You wish for me to do today?

do justice… Strong’s Concordance gives several examples of the definition of justice… but the first one is… “1) just behavior or treatment: a concern for justice, peace, and genuine respect for people.” 

love kindness… noun – the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate (Strong’s Concordance)

walk humbly with God… adverb – a way that shows or suggests a modest or low estimate of one’s importance; the servant bowed before his master (Strong’s Concordance)

Do you hear what I hear?????

The two greatest commandments… the ones that sum up the WHOLE law…  You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets. (Matthew 22:37-40)

He has told us! And now, in Micah He tells us what it looks like.

2017 is definitely going to be a wrestling match for me! I will be wrestling with hearing the voice of my Lord and my God… the same voice that spoke all of creation (including this one called Mary) into existence.

But I think I will mostly be wrestling with myself!

As I’m BEGGING for the ALL THE DETAILS of what is to come, and getting only enough for the next step, I will wrestle myself to “Cease striving and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10).

As I am SEEKING to BE KNOWN, I will wrestle with myself to be trained by His loving discipline, knowing that “all discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it , afterwards (after my tears) it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.” (Hebrews 12:11).

As I am KNOCKING because I think I forgot my key, I will wrestle with myself to OBSERVE an REMEMBER “that I was a slave in this land, and the Lord my God brought me out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm” (Deuteronomy 5:15).

Yes, I have been TOLD… my New Year’s Resolution for 2017… to HEAR… then… TO DO – TO LOVE – TO WALK and TO STOP waiting for ONLY the FUN STUFF!

Have you been told?

Yes you have! It’s all there… whether you have read it or not… it is called Scripture – The Bible – God’s Word. From the Torah to the New Testament, the Prophets and Writings in between, God has spoken… is speaking… will keep His word… “for the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12) 

Free will gives each of us the choice to choose whom (or what) we will serve. But…we must remember… our choice to believe (or not to believe) God exists and He speaks, changes only us! God and His Word are NOT changed by our choice.

We have been told!

**All Scripture quoted comes from the “Bible Gateway” app and is the NASB version of the Bible