Isaiah 1:4 Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.
I don't know about you, but I have seen a lot of things floating around about Jesus, God and the Holy Spirit. I would say 99% of these blogs, devotions, books, etc. are all written about positive attributes and thoughts about God. Nothing wrong with that, in and of itself, but we have to be sure to keep our perspective of God in balance. If we want to know Him better, then we need to look at ALL of Who He is.
I was reading our Weekend Getaway passage and verse 4 caught my attention. The Lord God said His people had "provoked" Him to anger. They had despised what He had taught them to do. They knew their lack of obedience would cause Him to be angry, yet they did it anyway. This made me think on the fact that God may be kind, loving and caring, but He most certainly can be provoked to anger by the rebellion of His children.
Don't stop reading just because you think this isn't going to encourage you in some way today. If you will stick with me I hope you will do a little soul searching and be encouraged by the time we are finished.
What good would it do you or me or mom to parade around like we are wholesome, Bible believing, church going, and God fearing ladies if we really aren't being honest in our hearts towards all that we know to be true? We would be wasting our time wouldn't we? Eventually our spiritual "highs" would give way to lows and we would end up blaming God instead of the real problem, ourselves.
If God can be provoked to anger, which He can, then we want to know how NOT to do that. Right? What was it that the people of Israel had done that God said their whole head and heart was sick? He literally calls His own people a sinful nation, laden with iniquity, seed of evildoers, and corrupters! I don't want God calling me those names do you? If you read a little further He begins directing their attention to how tired He is of their sacrifices. He is sick of their attending every feast and holiday and Sabbath. He even says He will hide His eyes when they spread forth their hands and He will not hear when they pray. That is some serious emotion there. God isn't playing around or expressing "feel good" thoughts is He? He is expressing His love though because He is wanting a change from them.
God says in verses 16-18, "Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; Learn to do well; seek judgement, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together, saith 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."
He lays out a plan for them, a plan of change. From what I see, if they were doing all He had said to do, then He wouldn't have needed to point out their lack of care for others (the oppressed, the fatherless, the widows) Somewhere along the line the people had gotten really good at performing in front of everyone including God, but not really doing His work.
So, where does that apply to us? It is simple. Ask yourself are you just going through the motions? Do you go to church on Sunday and Wednesday because if you didn't, people would say things about you? Do you put on a skirt because you want to impress a group of people or a certain camp of fellow believers? Do you drop names from a certain institution because you feel the need to affiliate with them for fear of being ostracized? Do you bend and bow in order to have praise of peers? All of that is pointless and does nothing to strengthen your relationship with God in truth. Yes, I know, that is a strong statement. I don't make it lightly. And the only person I have in mind as I write it is Sheri Edwards, me. If I don't judge myself to the nitty gritty, then God will. And I really want to be pleasing to Him for the right reasons.
You may think it is easy for a missionary to be a judge. That is where you would be wrong. Any missionary will tell you that the easiest place to get out of sync with God is on the mission field. We can be just as distracted and go backward spiritually as anyone. It is still my responsibility to care for family, the oppressed, the widows and the fatherless. It is still my responsibility to check myself and make sure I am not just making vain oblations to God and really serve with my whole heart.
When we get good at playing Christian and Church, we get terrible at really ministering to others needs. We forget to really look for the fatherless. We don't take time to sit and listen to the widows and really truly pray for their specific needs. We don't try and help the oppressed. No, we get in our little church clicks and talk about all of them, but God forbid we go sit next to someone who has been depressed and under a trial for years and put our arm on their shoulders and pray with them. God forbid we leave our little high heeled perfect hair group to go ask a widow lady if her light bill needs paying or if she needs a ride to the grocery store. And don't even think about stinking up our pretty dress with a snot nose bus kid....that would just be going too far. We play at church a lot don't we? We get good at quoting the Scripture and singing in the choir, but we fail at what God's heart really desires. He wants us to live in truth before Him, wash ourselves by confessing our falseness and fakeness. He wants us to come clean and choose to obey because it is important to obey in private, not just in front of people and a set of man made rules someone laid down once upon a time.
The Holy One of Israel has not changed from Isaiah's time to now. What He felt about the lack of a clean heart then is exactly the way He feels about a lack of a clean heart today. He doesn't like it. In verse 2 He speaks of how He had nourished His people, yet they had rebelled. God sure has nourished and brought me up in His Word. He has given me many opportunities to get to know Him better and many opportunities to serve Him. I don't want to rebel against Him; I want to come now and reason together and look at my relationship with Him for what it truly is. If I find something lacking, then I want to make it right. I can't do that without coming to Him and confessing how off the track I have become. I have to be down right honest. Not just think about it, not just desire it, but bow down and take care of Spiritual business with The Holy One of Israel, one on One.
God IS a loving, caring God. He does want to meet your needs my friend, but He can't meet them if you aren't willing to shed the "act" of holiness and decide to get right with Him on all counts. I hope you will take this post to heart, do what you need to do and never provoke God to anger. Let's be real women of God, not false ones.
Isaiah 1:19-20 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
Until next time, Lord willing,
Sheri
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