| Day 49 |
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The reading for day 49 was Isaiah 1:1-13:22.
1:11 To what purpose [is] the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.
Isaiah can sometimes be a beautiful book, and sometimes a scary one. It is downright scary to think that the things God brought on His people then, could possibly come upon His people now. God was tired of there self-important false religion. What does He think of the state of the church today. Are our sacrifices pointless like theirs were? 1:12 When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts?
Stop coming before God in your worthlessness, pretending to be something great. Come to Him in humility: 1:16 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; 1:17 Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Is this what God would have us to do?
2:17 And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.
God hates pride...men love it...we want to be God but we can't. We think we can but He won't let us. He will not give His glory to another...
3:9 The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide [it] not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves.
Does this not strike you as something that God would say to our generation? How often do we see sin paraded as something good, even masquerading as Christianity? What are we doing to stop it?
5:20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
There is so much in these chapters that I could talk about, but the overarching theme is that God is God alone, holy and almighty, and He alone deserves recognition. He does not let His name be taken in vain. He judges HIS people first, and then moves on to the other nations. 8:13 Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself; and [let] him [be] your fear, and [let] him [be] your dread.
As He always does, even in His judgement, God brings hope to His people. In college, I was in a singing group that sang choral music. We sang a latin peice that was taken from the passage that says "behold and see, if there is any sorrow like my sorrow." The peice was absolutely heartrending. The peice was almost exculsively in a minor mode, but the most interesting thing about it was that at every cadence, there was a major chord. So...all that to say...even in the midst of great sorrow, there is always a glimmer of hope : )
12:2 Behold, God [is] my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH [is] my strength and [my] song; he also is become my salvation.
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