There Is No Good Without God

You probably know the feeling of something not being quite right. It may not be major; it may be almost undiscernible, but you just know in the back of your mind that something is off just a little bit. For instance, maybe you are following a recipe, but you forget the salt. It could be cookies, roast, or whatever, but if you are missing the salt, then you are missing out. You take a bite of that food and think, “Something is just off.” Maybe you hear some music that sounds kind of flat. Something is not quite right. For some people their entire lives are like a futile dream. All of us know the experience of dreaming something and you just never quite gain what you are looking for.

In Micah 6, God is talking to His wayward people. He says in verse 14, “Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied.” In verse 15 He says, “Thou shalt sow but, thou shalt not reap.” Something was missing; something had not quite come to the conclusion or satisfaction that was sought. What was missing was not a thing but a person. It was God. There is no good without God. We may think all of our virtue, savings, and relationships are good, but if they are missing God the Creator, they are missing everything. There is no good without God.

My guess is if you are reading to this, you don’t intend to pursue life without God, but how do we go without God? First, we miss His goodness. Micah 6:3 says, “O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? Testify against me.” God says, “Look, what have I done to you? How have I wronged you? Testify against Me.” Could you testify against God? There are times when we feel like God has done us wrong; there are other times when we have just forgotten. God said to His people, “Remember that you may know.”

Then He reminds them of His goodness. There was a man named Balak, a king of Moab, who wished to destroy the Israelites, and God would not let him do it. There are many such examples, but the bottom line is that we can miss God’s goodness. Gratitude is not natural. This morning a couple of things came to my mind for which I realized I am very grateful. We so easily pray for things, but when we get answers, we forget. Or we just take something for granted; we just don’t see God in it. We miss God’s goodness, and there is no good without God.

Second, we misunderstand His demands. What is the answer to a God who is estranged from His people? Verse 7 says, “Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams?” Will God be pleased with some huge sacrifice? Famously, verse 8 responds, “He [God] hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” No sacrifice in the world can please God if who we are and how we are with Him does not please Him.

We can be busy trying to be virtuous and cut God right out of our lives. We can try to be a decent person. The problem is we can’t be decent people without God. We can keep rules, the Ten Commandments, and do acts of charity, but without God we are trying to focus on a creation and not the Creator, the God who gives. He says, “God wants you to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.” Humility is tied to gratitude. We should be grateful and humble. We should walk humbly with God.

Third, we ignore His chastening. Verse 10 says, “The LORD’s voice crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it.” God was chastening His people not because He hated them, but precisely because He loved them. They didn’t even seem to notice. When they did notice, they didn’t seem to know who appointed it. It was God, and it was because God was trying to bring them back to Himself. Not every calamity is chastening from God, but sometimes God chastens us and we ignore the chastening.

Ultimately, we replace God’s authority. We go without God. Verse 16 says, “For the statutes of Omri [a wicked king] are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab [a wicked king], and you walk in their counsels.” Whenever I say no to God, I am saying yes to some other law. The idea that no one tells us what to do is sheer folly. We all listen to someone or something, and if we are not going to follow a good God, we are going to follow a wicked king. Sometimes we look to so-called experts and think, “If I can be like them, I will be okay.” You don’t need to be like a person. You need to be like the Lord Jesus, and the only way you can do that is with the power of God. There is no good without God.

Where is God in your plans? Maybe you have great, noble, virtuous plans, but where is God in that? Maybe you are saving money, but where is God in that? Maybe you are trying to mend or start a relationship. Love is good, but what good and to what end is it if God is kept out of relationships that He has designed? There is no good without God.

Today if something seems to be missing, the first place to look is where I am with God. I’m not saying it is automatically God that is missing, but that should be where we look first. Am I missing His goodness, misunderstanding His demands, ignoring His chastening, or replacing His authority? There is no good without God.