SOME THOUGHTS FROM ISAIAH 58
I love God for his actions on our behalf as we strive to honor Him. Scripture tells us about God, and God’s way for us to know His will. He expects us to study, learn and live by His precepts and commands – after all, we are His creation, and He knows what is best for us. God’s words are the story of how He saved man, because He values us as His creation. He “so loved the world that he gave his Only Begotten Son. . . ” (John 3:14-21) In verses 20-21, the word emphasizes, “But he who DOES the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.
God’s people had transgressed God’s law beginning in the Garden of Eden, and continues throughout the pages of the Bible as well as today. In Isaiah 58:1-5, the children of Israel, “sought God daily and delighted to know his way (verse 2).” They continued in sin, yet expected God to be pleased because they were at least knowledgeable of God’s desire for man to have a relationship with him. Yet they continued in sin. The same problem is with us today. Satan makes it easy for us to sin, and to stray from God’s will. Hence, we need to fortify ourselves and always remember that Satan is “. . . as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” (1 Peter 5:8).
We cannot stay in sin and be pleasing to God. We want and desire his forgiveness, but, like Israel, God told Isaiah, “ Cry aloud, spare not; Lift up your voice like a trumpet; Tell My people their transgression, And the house of Jacob their sins.
Yet they seek Me daily, and delight to know My ways, As a nation that did righteousness, And did not forsake the ordinance of their God. They ask of Me the ordinances of justice; They take delight in approaching God. ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and You have not seen? Why have we afflicted our souls, and You take no notice?” (Verse 2-3)
Consider how many today judge God by his people, and judgment is based upon Christians who sin as much as those who do not claim to be Christians.
We fail as humans to honor God as we should. When we gather to worship, often we are distracted by a song off key, a baby in front of us, thinking about what is for lunch or dinner, by mistakes made by the preacher as he is teaching; by the things Satan reminds us we would rather do.
Some have assumed that God is so good and loving that he will never punish anyone for any sin. YET God has punished his people time and again for their sin (REREAD THE OLD TESTAMENT AND HOW MANY TIMES GOD JUDGED HIS PEOPLE.) When judgment day comes His justice will be perfect and just.
For those of us who are believers, we are keenly aware of our shortcomings. We may sin less, but we still struggle with sin daily. God knows what we do as well as what we think. When we sin, we hurt our Heavenly Father, because sin is against what He wants for us. We think God is mad at us and we become fearful to ask for forgiveness AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN. If we continue in sin, our hearts will become so hard that it will not matter to us what God thinks.
For a child of God that does sin, we must trust the word that “God will not remember our sin and iniquity no more. “ (Hebrews 8:12). Some of us, however, hold on to the guilt when God has forgiven, and we think we can never be saved. This is a miserable existence. WHEN GOD PROMISES TO DO SOMETHING – YOU CAN COUNT ON THE FACT THAT HE DOES WHAT HE SAID HE WOULD DO.
For some of us, we sin and feel shame, because we let God down. He was watching and he knows all we think as well as what we do.
We don’t trust God’s promises and love to forgive us!
We have sinned against him. How could I hurt the one who loves me more than I can imagine?
When I think about it, God’s grace does cover a multitude of sin. God’s willingness to forgive is beyond belief. Gid’s love is immeasurable
I close with these comforting passage from Psalms 103:11-14 For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. As a father pities his children, So the LORD pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.”
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.” 1 John 1:9-10
Trust His love, trust His forgiveness, and strive to do what our Lord has told us to do!
Tommy
