September 14-20

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The Lord, Himself, encourages us to study the words of Isaiah. Therein, we will find messages for our day and more specifically, for ourselves. Isaiah is full of hope for the righteous and warnings for the sinner. Both types of messages are filled with love for His children. 

Here is one of the warnings for His children who have gone astray. This is the Lord’s voice we’re listening to.

Isaiah 1:6, 11, 13-14

6 From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. 

The children of Israel are wounded from sin, and their wounds aren’t healing because they aren’t repenting. The word “ointment” in this verse has references to the temple. Whatever apostate practices were occurring in the temple were ineffective in healing them. From the wording in the verse, it seems as though the ointment was applied. However, it did not mollify. 

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. 

The Lord is still receiving sacrifices, and He is full of them. He doesn’t love these kinds of things, and it’s not blessing the people either.

13 Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.

14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. 

An oblation is a solemn offering. Incense was offered up twice a day in the temple to represent the prayers of the people reaching up to God. New moons, sabbaths, and assemblies were religious festivals that were celebrated.

It has reached the point where these things no longer please God. They simply make it worse. 

I usually don’t share this many verses, but I wanted to point out a major theme throughout Isaiah. It is the idea of empty religious worship. It doesn’t please the Lord, and it doesn’t help you. It is vain. It is empty. It is worthless. 

I want to draw your attention to one phrase: I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. 

Perhaps there are layers of meaning to this phrase, but there is one layer that stuck out to me. Christ doesn’t enjoy blood sacrifices. He doesn’t enjoy watching it. He doesn’t feast on it. It’s not doing anything for Him. When you make sacrifices, it doesn’t bless the Lord.

The only way that we can “bless” the Lord back is to give Him of ourselves. A more accurate phrasing is this: the only way we can please the Lord is to give ourselves to Him. 

Think of it in this way. You live in a perfect home that’s always clean. It never gets dirty. Your child comes and sacrifices their time to vacuum the carpet. Even though you don’t need your house cleaned, you’re still teaching your child to vacuum because you want your child to grow to be good. So you watch your child vacuum like they’re supposed to. Unfortunately, then your child goes to the homes of other people and trashes them disrespectfully. 

Would you be pleased with your child? Would you feel so happy over the fact that your never-dirty carpet got vacuumed?

No, you’d be mad at your kid. 

The Lord doesn’t need our sacrifices. He doesn’t actually care much about the sacrifice itself. He doesn’t need us to do it. He’s got all of that covered. The only reason He gives us tasks at all is so that we change. So when we vacuum the carpet but don’t learn anything, He is not receiving any joy. He just wants a child who loves Him, loves others, and acts like a child of God. 

The Israelites paraded their supposed righteousness around, celebrating festivals and giving sacrifices. But in the end, the Lord still didn’t have His children back. Watching them pretend to worship Him was a slap in the face because they would turn around and hurt the world around them. The Israelites would give the impression that the God of Israel delights in sacrifice, hypocrisy, and unloving societies. They shamed themselves, and misrepresented Him. 

It is not enough to sacrifice. It is not enough to go through action of serving without an attitude of worship.

I have seen this in my own life as a mother. There have been times when I have loved being a mother, and there have been times when I have found myself in utter despair over my life choices. How much I was sacrificing was irrelevant to my happiness. What truly makes the difference between the times I’m miserable and the times I’m happy is when I choose to actually lose myself. I don’t know how that mechanism works, but it does.

When I’m caught up in myself and making sure I have enough, I’m miserable and exhausted. When I finally just let go and stop thinking about myself, I find this deep sense of fulfillment that changes everything. 

So yes. Give the sacrifices. Obey His will. Celebrate the festivals, but let it change you. Otherwise, it is all for naught. 

I testify that the Lord delights in us doing what’s right. He just wants us to be happy and choose goodness and see eternity for what it offers. All of the structure and commandments and offerings are simply meant to point us to Christ. They will not serve you if you can’t find Christ in them and change accordingly. I testify that repentance is such a gift. I testify that the Lord has set us up for success and then paid for our success.