Walking Humbly with Your God

Walking Humbly with Your God

March 9, 2008

Introduction

Sometimes we hear the question, or perhaps ask the question, “What Does the Lord Require of You?” There is a verse that addresses that question: (Micah 6:8 NKJV) "He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?"

But what does it mean to walk humbly with your God?" This morning we want to partially answer that question by considering what I consider to be three of the most outstanding prayers in the Bible that are written out for us. I think each of these address the challenge of “walking humbly with your God"

Body

I. Consider David’s Prayer of confession -- “walking humbly with your God"

A. A plea for mercy. That’s humility.

(Psa 51 NKJV) "Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies,

1. There is no mention of anything David has done to deserve it—it’s mercy!

2. It’s God’s loving kindness.

B. The request: What he wants!

(Psa 51:1) Blot out my transgressions. {2} Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin.

1. Sin makes us feel dirty.

2. He wants to be able to walk humbly with God—sin keeps us apart.

C. He acknowledges his sin.

(Psa 51:3) For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is always before me.

D. He emphasizes the sin as being against God.

(Psa 51:4) Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight; That You may be found just when You speak, And blameless when You judge.

1. He isn’t down playing what he has done to Uriah, but emphasizing what he has done against God.

2. How do you adequately say, “I don’t know how I could have done such a thing?”

(Psa 51:5) Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.

E. He knows what God wants.

(Psa 51:6) Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.

1. He knows what he needs and why.

(Psa 51:7) Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. {8} Make me hear joy and gladness, That the bones You have broken may rejoice. {9} Hide Your face from my sins, And blot out all my iniquities. {10} Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.

2. He desires to walk humbly with God.

(Psa 51:11) Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. {12} Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.

F. Walking with God includes sharing God with others.

(Psa 51:13) Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners shall be converted to You.

1. He knew he was guilty of killing Uriah.

(Psa 51:14) Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, The God of my salvation, And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness. {15} O Lord, open my lips, And my mouth shall show forth Your praise.

2. David knows that behind the sacrifice there has to be an humble heart.

(Psa 51:16) For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering. {17} The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart; These, O God, You will not despise. {18} Do good in Your good pleasure to Zion; Build the walls of Jerusalem. {19} Then You shall be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, With burnt offering and whole burnt offering; Then they shall offer bulls on Your altar."

G. David, with all his sin, wanted to walk humbly with his God.

II. Daniel interceded for God’s people that they might walk with God.

A. Daniel prayed for something God had already promised.

(Dan 9 NKJV) "In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the lineage of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans; {2} in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the LORD through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.

1. Even though it was promised, Daniel prayed humbly and earnestly for the promise.

(Dan 9:3) Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. {4} And I prayed to the LORD my God, and made confession, and said, "O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments,

2. His confession for his people and he identifies with them.

(Dan 9:5) "we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments. {6} "Neither have we heeded Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings and our princes, to our fathers and all the people of the land.

B. Walking humbly with God includes acknowledging God’s righteousness.

(Dan 9:7) "O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but to us shame of face, as it is this day; to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those near and those far off in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against You. {8} "O Lord, to us belongs shame of face, to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. {9} "To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him. {10} "We have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in His laws, which He set before us by His servants the prophets. {11} "Yes, all Israel has transgressed Your law, and has departed so as not to obey Your voice; therefore the curse and the oath written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against Him.

C. We fast forward to the interruption of his prayer.

(Dan 9:20) Now while I was speaking, praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God for the holy mountain of my God, {21} yes, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, reached me about the time of the evening offering. {22} And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, "O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you skill to understand. {23} "At the beginning of your supplications the command went out, and I have come to tell you, for you are greatly beloved; therefore consider the matter, and understand the vision:

III. The prayer of our Lord on the night of His betrayal.

A. Walking with God must include knowing God.

(John 17:2-3 NKJV) ""as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. {3} "And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent."

Conclusion

I. Time has run out before we have had time to complete these last two great prayers.

II. What does it mean to walk humble with God?

A. It means much fervent prayer.

B. It means acknowledging the greatness of God and our own weakness.

C. It means asking His forgiveness earnestly.

D. It means sharing Him with those we know.

(Psa 51:13) Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners shall be converted to You.

III. Have you begun your walk with God? Have you obeyed Him?

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