If you are righteous, what do you give to him, or what does he receive from your hand? – Job 35:7

Today's Scripture Reading (September 14, 2024): Job 35

What does God require of us? It is a good question. If God is so high above us, would it not follow that there is nothing we possess that God needs? And yet, for some reason, it seems that God has developed a relationship with us where there are two sides, both of which give to the other. God may not need anything I have, yet he has expectations.

The Prophet Micah answered the question this way.

With what shall I come before the Lord
    and bow down before the exalted God?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
    with calves a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
    with ten thousand rivers of olive oil?
Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression,
    the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
    And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
    and to walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:6-8).

It is interesting for a prophet of Israel during their sacrificial era that Micah stresses that it is not burnt offerings that God requires, whether the sacrifice is a calf that was a year old, rams, olive oil, or even the firstborn. God requires that we act with justice in the forefront of our minds; we would love mercy, extending love and forgiveness to everyone in our circle of influence; and walk humbly with God, not thinking we have all the answers.

Micah's words show us how much Job and his friends have missed the mark. While they think they are acting or, more appropriately, reacting to Job's situation with justice, they are not loving mercy. And every one of Job's four friends believes that they know what God is thinking, rather than walking humbly with their God.

Elihu's question is important but also one that Elihu can't answer. The unfortunate part of his reaction is that the more he argues, the more the answer to his question is that God requires nothing from us, which just isn't true. Micah got it right, and as high as God is above us, for that reason, we struggle to understand him.

God does expect something from us. And so, we humbly walk with him, admitting that we don't know the answer to Elihu's question of Job. 

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Job 36