A Message Worth Repeating

What do you do when you have an important message to communicate?

If you’re like me, you may repeat yourself. And if you’re a parent, then you probably repeat yourself to your children on a daily basis. Why? Because repetition helps ensure that your communication will stand out amid the competing messages the world offers to deceive and defeat those you love.

Have you noticed that God repeats Himself, too?

He said it once:

After Moses led the ancient Israelites out of Egyptian slavery, but before they entered the promised land, God gave the people His Law. And in Deuteronomy 10:12, Moses reminded the people of God’s requirements by asking, “Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require from you?”

It’s a question many ask today. What does the Lord require of us? For thousands of years, people have made up their own answers. But it wasn’t a trick question then, nor is it now. The answer is found in the same verse: fear the Lord, obey Him, love Him, and serve Him. A few verses later, God also added the importance of justice and kindness by using His own character as an example.

He said it twice:

Like many people today, the Israelites of the prophet Micah’s time were caught up in the trappings of religion. Their hands were busy with religious activity, but their hearts were far from the Lord. So God sent His prophets to plead with His people to turn back to Him, but they chose not to listen. The Northern Kingdom of Israel would be the first to experience judgment at the hands of the Assyrians. The Southern Kingdom of Judah would fall to the Babylonians.

Speaking through Micah, God once again asked His people a simple question in Micah 6:8. “What does the Lord require of you?” Micah followed up the question with the answer. “He has told you…,” said Micah. When did God tell them? Back in Deuteronomy, in the book of the law written by Moses hundreds of years earlier.

But the people were consumed by religious ritual. Multiple sacrifices were offered in the temple, yet their hearts were not engaged. They followed the letter of the law, not the spirit.

God wanted a people in relationship with Him, so He spoke through the prophet, Micah, to remind them of His word. “Does the Lord take delight in thousands of rams, in ten thousand rivers of oil?…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 6:7-8)

This same prophet also told of the coming Messiah—the One who would ultimately restore the relationship destroyed by sin. It is from Micah that we learn of Bethlehem as the birthplace of the Messiah, God’s Son Jesus.

He said it a third time:

The Messiah came seven hundred years after Micah. His message was one of restoration. Once again, God called His people back to Him. But the more things change, the more they remain the same. Ritual once again had an ugly grip on God’s people. The Pharisees had added oral traditions to their application of the written law. They believed they would earn God’s approval by ensuring ceremonial purity.

Jesus was outspoken in His criticism of the legalistic burdens the Pharisees placed on the people. Much like the nation during Micah’s day, they just didn’t get it—God is interested in the heart even more than external ritual.

His exposure of their hypocrisy is encapsulated in Matthew 23:23, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.” Sound familiar? Justice, mercy (or kindness), and faithfulness.

What about us, today? Are we so preoccupied with external, religious behavior that we have neglected intimacy with the one, true, living God through His Son, Jesus Christ? Are our hearts engaged in a relationship with the Savior who died to restore us to Him, or do we go through the motions on Sunday morning, and then look out for number one on Monday morning?

Is justice something we leave to the courts, or do we practice it in our own business dealings? Do we meet others at their point of need, or do we show mercy only when it’s convenient for us? Are we faithful to obey the voice of the Holy Spirit in every area of our life, or are we holding back, deciding that in some areas, we know better than God as to what is best for us?

The first time He said it, He was establishing the basis for a relationship with His people. The next time He said it, it was to remind them that they had missed the point. The third time, He sent His Son to deliver the message in person.

It’s a message worth repeating!