June 3rd, 2013
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

What Does God Want for Us?

Please see the links to our EXTRA Bible Study notes at the bottom of the page.

Opening Prayer

God, I ask that You open my eyes to see You, my lips to praise You, my hands to share You.

Read Isaiah 1:1-20

[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. [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.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of International Bible Society.

Meditate

Forgiven, forgotten, forever! When we come and reason with God about our sins, that’s what happens. They will be cleansed (18). That’s good news, indeed!

Think Further

Two mothers at a recent Easter retreat both discovered that when they contemplated the cross, the pain they felt most deeply was for their children who had gone astray, and they both found comfort in the words, “By his wounds we are healed” (Isa. 53:5). It reminded them that there was still hope that their child could find healing in Christ’s death. In Isaiah 1, we hear this same heart in God: pain for his children who no longer acknowledge him because their rebellion is hurting both them and him.

There is much in these early chapters of Isaiah condemning faithless people. Sometimes these same prophetic pronouncements are repeated today to condemn our errant society, but the prophet is not portraying a vindictive God. What motivates God’s call to repentance is a longing for the return of his children. The God who created us knows only too well how destructive our rebellion is to our physical, emotional and societal health. Loaded with guilt (4), our head-to-foot bruises (6) often come from internal fighting as well as from a violent society. A lonely existence, like a rough, temporary hut in a landscape of fruitfulness, can be as devastating as fire and brimstone (8,9).

What does God want for us? Recovery. Wholeness. All we were meant to be. A recent “Quit Smoking” advertisement urges: “Stop smoking! Start repairing! Every cigarette you don’t smoke is doing you good!” That is what God is saying: “Quit your sinning; quit your rebelling against the way I made you; it will be good for you! Be reasonable, and you will have the best of all I had in mind in creating you” (18,19). “Even your worship is worthless if it is not accompanied by seeking purity and doing justice” (10-17).

Apply

Paul quotes v. 9 to illustrate God’s mercy (Rom. 9:29). Do you let God’s love and patience encourage you? How?

Closing prayer

Loving Father, today I want to take ownership of my sins and to know forgiveness. I desire to live a life of purity, seeking justice for those who are oppressed.

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