Get Out Of My Sight!
Opening Prayer
God, I need You. Speak Your whisper of love to my heart today.
Read Isaiah 1:1–20
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.
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.
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
Have you ever felt ignored, dishonored, let down, “ghosted” by someone close to you—a friend, a spouse, a family member?It is those closest to us who hurt us the most. When we have trusted, loved and invested deeply, we make ourselves deeply vulnerable. And if that loved one betrays us, sometimes we can’t bear even to look at them.
The Lord has trusted, loved and invested in his people completely and utterly. But they have turned their backs on him (4). He is furious, not because he doesn’t care, but because he does. Because his child—his very dear child, offspring of Abraham, seed of the promise, a nation pure and set apart—has turned away.
And yet his people carry on with services and meetings as if nothing has changed. He finds their superficial prayers utterly abhorrent and can’t bear to look at them. He turns his face away (15).
To know the Lord’s blessing is to have his face turned towards us, to have his face shine on us, to have his full attention (Num. 6:25,26). His turning away is a withdrawal of blessing.
But there is a way back to restoration: to turn away from evil, learn to act justly, turn back to him and be washed whiter than snow (16–18).
Apply
What aspects of verses 16–18 do you need to apply in your own life?
Closing prayer
Revive me, O God, so that I can love like You do! Don’t leave me this way.
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