⁶ What can we bring to the Lord?
    Should we bring him burnt offerings?
Should we bow before God Most High
    with offerings of yearling calves?
⁷ Should we offer him thousands of rams
    and ten thousand rivers of olive oil?
Should we sacrifice our firstborn children
    to pay for our sins?

⁸ No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good,
    and this is what he requires of you:
to do what is right, to love mercy,
    and to walk humbly with your God.

Micah 6:6-8

Dear God, this passage reminds me of what Samuel told Saul after he went ahead with a sacrificial ceremony instead of waiting for Samuel in 1 Samuel 15 :22-23.

²² But Samuel replied,

“What is more pleasing to the Lord:
    your burnt offerings and sacrifices
    or your obedience to his voice?
Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice,
    and submission is better than offering the fat of rams.
²³ Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft,
    and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols.
So because you have rejected the command of the Lord,
    he has rejected you as king.”

Is it that hard to obey? I was listening to this very faithful young woman talk yesterday about her need to repent, and how she loves how her Presbyterian church has part of each service where she and everyone else, including the pastor gets down on their knees and, to the best of their abilities, repent of their sins. She also teaches young children in Sunday school and she said that one of the children asked her about that part of the church service. She told the child that grown-ups make mistakes too, and all of us need to ask you for forgiveness. I have to admit that I really admire this young woman, and one of my thoughts was, “You sin that often?” But then I thought, “Of course she does. What am I thinking?”

I’m sure some people look at me and think much too highly of me. They might think I am more holy than I am. But you know my heart. You know how selfish and insecure I can be. You know the vices against which I struggle. And you know I try. I don’t just expect to be allowed to sin and then walk back arrogantly claiming the blood of Jesus over them without remorse.

That leads me to addiction. I heard about a young woman today I know who checked herself into a rehab facility yesterday. I have addictions of my own, although, thankfully, they aren’t substances like drugs and alcohol. But food is certainly one. Gossip. Oh, there are all kinds of things I could list.

Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit, I want to first pray for this woman. There is a lot of pain in her heart and life right now. Please help her. Please use this to bring her to yourself. Draw her to yourself. Help this to be her bottom. Use this in the lives of those around her too. Bring her your complete and total healing. And help me, Father, to be exactly who you need me to be. Help me to take the vices in my life and be free of them. Help me to be the man you want me to be. Use me. I think of the song “Spirit of the Living God”: “Break me, melt me, mold me, fill me. Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me.”

I pray this in your holy, Triune name,

Amen