GOD’S GRIEF FOR ISRAEL

DEVOTIONAL 12/30/2021

Isaiah 1:

16 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;

17 Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.

18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

Israel repeatedly sinned against God with their idolatry, immoralities, and injustice. Claiming to be God’s people, Israel still chose to operate in corrupted ways, and God was not happy about it.

Isaiah 1:

2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear; O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.

3 The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.

We can feel the pain in His voice. He provided Israel with all goodness and abundance, but they did things that displeased Him so much. Even the livestock would recognize the caretaker, but Israel would not hear the voice of the LORD.

Isaiah 1:

4 Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.

5 Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.

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 sins of Israel were tremendous. They might think they were holy and righteous. However, the LORD could see deep into their minds and hearts. God knew that their thoughts were evil as “the whole head is sick” (Isaiah 1: 5). They might appear clean outwardly, and people might admire their nobility. Nonetheless, the LORD could see their wounded and bruised souls without healing. Christians today can be looked up to by the world, but under God’s eyes, their actions are unacceptable. God can see clearly what is going on in both physical and spiritual worlds.

Isaiah 1: 9 Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.

God has already considered most Israelites and Christians no better than people in Sodom and Gomorrah, besides a few remnants.

Isaiah 1:

11 To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt-offerings of ram, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.

12 When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts?

13 Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and the 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.

15 And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.

It is obvious that the LORD hates sacrificing and burning incense when people do not repent. Without repentance, our sacrifices and offerings are abominable (Isaiah 1: 13) in front of the LORD. Even if we gather in “solemn meeting” (Isaiah 1: 13) to honor Him, it is like a sore in His eyes because of our sins. Furthermore, even if we say many prayers, He does not want to hear. Our prayers will go forth in vain. The only solution for answered prayers is that we have to be cleaned from our unrighteousness.

God is always ready to forgive His people and to make us “white as snow” even if our “sins be as scarlet” (Isaiah 1: 18). He is reasoning with us. As a powerful God, He can just wipe us out in His anger, but He is willing to reason, to forgive, and to bless us again. The world is full of temptations to pull us away from God while God loves His creations so much that He constantly reasons with them.

Sam Christian

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Vocabulary and grammar checks were done with the help of Collinsdictionary.com, Microsoft Word, and Google Docs.

The Bible used is the King James Version by Hendrickson Publishers. ISBN 978-1-59856-461-7. Some texts were inspired by boldfaced words and reference systems from this Bible book.

Style of quotation followed partly the APA style-7th edition.