A BROKEN-HEARTED PARENT
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Opening Prayer
Father, your provisions for me, temporal and eternal, seen and unseen, are beyond measure. Help me to express my gratitude in actions, as well as words.
Read ISAIAH 1:1–20
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
1 The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
A Rebellious Nation
2 Hear me, you heavens! Listen, earth!
For the Lord has spoken:
“I reared children and brought them up,
but they have rebelled against me.
3 The ox knows its master,
the donkey its owner’s manger,
but Israel does not know,
my people do not understand.”
4 Woe to the sinful nation,
a people whose guilt is great,
a brood of evildoers,
children given to corruption!
They have forsaken the Lord;
they have spurned the Holy One of Israel
and turned their backs on him.
5 Why should you be beaten anymore?
Why do you persist in rebellion?
Your whole head is injured,
your whole heart afflicted.
6 From the sole of your foot to the top of your head
there is no soundness—
only wounds and welts
and open sores,
not cleansed or bandaged
or soothed with olive oil.
7 Your country is desolate,
your cities burned with fire;
your fields are being stripped by foreigners
right before you,
laid waste as when overthrown by strangers.
8 Daughter Zion is left
like a shelter in a vineyard,
like a hut in a cucumber field,
like a city under siege.
9 Unless the Lord Almighty
had left us some survivors,
we would have become like Sodom,
we would have been like Gomorrah.
10 Hear the word of the Lord,
you rulers of Sodom;
listen to the instruction of our God,
you people of Gomorrah!
11 “The multitude of your sacrifices—
what are they to me?” says the Lord.
“I have more than enough of burnt offerings,
of rams and the fat of fattened animals;
I have no pleasure
in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.
12 When you come to appear before me,
who has asked this of you,
this trampling of my courts?
13 Stop bringing meaningless offerings!
Your incense is detestable to me.
New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations—
I cannot bear your worthless assemblies.
14 Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals
I hate with all my being.
They have become a burden to me;
I am weary of bearing them.
15 When you spread out your hands in prayer,
I hide my eyes from you;
even when you offer many prayers,
I am not listening.
Your hands are full of blood!
16 Wash and make yourselves clean.
Take your evil deeds out of my sight;
stop doing wrong.
17 Learn to do right; seek justice.
Defend the oppressed.[a]
Take up the cause of the fatherless;
plead the case of the widow.
18 “Come now, let us settle the matter,”
says the Lord.
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red as crimson,
they shall be like wool.
19 If you are willing and obedient,
you will eat the good things of the land;
20 but if you resist and rebel,
you will be devoured by the sword.”
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 1:17 Or justice. / Correct the oppressor
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
‘It’s amazing when someone can break your heart, but you still love them with all the little pieces’ (Anon). God’s love for you is enduring, no matter what.Imagine you have a child into whom you have invested untold time, effort, financial resources, emotion—everything you could; but they choose to reject you and all the values you tried to instill in them. You feel angry, hurt, and broken-hearted. However, as you watch them damage themselves with the choices they continue to make, you are also filled with compassion and long to draw them back to you and protect them. Maybe you don’t have to imagine—maybe this is your experience. Take comfort from the fact that God knows and understands.
This is how God describes his relationship with his people, a broken-hearted parent pleading with his rebellious children. Read through the passage again, picking out phrases that describe God’s anger, his hurt, his compassion, and his longing for restoration. What overriding emotion stands out for you? I was surprised to see how much it hurt God to see his people hurting themselves in their rebellion (e.g., v. 5) and how reluctant he seemed to mete out punishment (e.g., v. 20).
Apply
Reflect on your relationship with Father God. When have you been the eager child, keen to stay close and obedient? Or when have you taken his love for granted, been disobedient and wayward? Listen to what God has to say about his relationship with you.
Closing prayer
Holy Spirit, help me to be ever-constant in my relationship with my heavenly Father—faithful and eager to do his will.
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