Today we begin the reading of Isaiah... and Wow, what a sobering and eye-opening reading.
The Lord says, "I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me." (Isa. 1:2)
You see the Lord understands the heartbreak of parents... He understands the pain of watching children who you've trained to love Him rebel and walk a different path. How our hearts ache for our children and loved ones who are not walking with the Lord, but His heart aches so much more...
But listen, the Bible continues. Maybe this isn't just a message for parents of wayward children. Maybe it's a message for us:
"They have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel... Why should ye be stricken any more? Ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head, there is no soundness in it; but wounds and bruises, and putrefying sores... Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire... To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.... Wash you, make you clean, put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes... [for] How is the faithful city become a harlot?" (Isa. 1:4-7,11,16,21)Do we recognize how we've failed both personally and corporately as a church? Do we recognize our desperate spiritual need?
As I read these passages this morning, it hit me with fearful solemnity that the same things Isaiah wrote about happening in Judah is happening today in the house of Israel, in God's church. We have followed after the world in so many ways. We are desolate, we are spiritually dry, we have burned our cities (our ministries and organizations) with fiery words and accusations, we've created putrefying ugly sores, we've shed innocent blood (otherwise known as character assassination), and we continue to offer the sacrifice of fools. (What's the sacrifice of fools? Click here to read more!)
Also, as I was reading in 1 Timothy 6:20 this morning, I saw counsel that is very applicable to our lives right now. Paul is appealing to Timothy. "O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babbling..." I believe the same appeal is for us now in the year 2018 and beyond, as we prepare for Christ's soon coming: "Oh Seventh-day Adventist Christian... keep that which is committed to thy trust. Avoid profane and vain babbling... for such babblings are not of the Lord. They wound, they destroy...they kill faith...they kill souls."
Despite all the ways we fall short, both individually and as a church, I praise the Lord for the encouragement also given in today's reading of Isaiah 1:18: "Come now and let us reason together says the Lord, though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."
God is in control. He can heal our wounds... He can heal our hearts... and He can also heal this church!
Tomorrow's Reading: Isa. 3-5 and 2 Tim. 1
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