7.1.09, Isaiah 1:29-31

²⁹ “You will be ashamed because of the sacred oaks
in which you have delighted;
you will be disgraced because of the gardens
that you have chosen.

³⁰ You will be like an oak with fading leaves,
like a garden without water.

³¹ The mighty man will become tinder
and his work a spark;
both will burn together,
with no one to quench the fire.”

Become What You Hate

Like I have mentioned before, idolatry becomes a major theme throughout Isaiah.  But it is not just Isaiah that focuses on this sin, but really all of Scripture.  All sin has its root in some form of idolatry, whether of self or wealth or sex, which explains why it takes such precedence in both the Old Testament and Jesus’ great commandments.

But this metaphor that Isaiah gives exposes one of the most dangerous aspects of idolatry, which is its power to change us.  In the passage, we find people putting their trust and delight in sacred oaks and gardens, symbols of idolatry and wealth.  But the twist is that ultimately, they become like those oaks and gardens, temporary, easily sparked and set ablaze and destroyed.

Idolatry is very dangerous because it actually transforms us, rather than the other way around.  We often think that we have control and influence over the foci of our lives, our jobs, our wealth, our relationships.  But in reality… they are the ones that control and influence us.  Take for example if you buy a really expensive phone – yes, you use it.  But it uses you too, it changes how you treat it and care for it and the time you spend guarding it.  It has mastery over YOU, over your behavior, over your money – it has transformed you into its slave.  It can be your phone, or any other possession (cars?  shoes?).  It can be getting ahead in your career.  It can even be a person, maybe someone you’re infatuated with – they change you.

Or in the words of Tyler Durden, “The things that you own, end up owning you.”  And of course, that is not compatible with the Lordship of Christ in our lives.

Questions

1. Is there anything in your life that you feel really influences your behavior or consumes your energy and thought?

2. In what ways has it changed you?  What don’t you like about the person you’ve become?

3. Why do you think that particular issue or part of your life is so difficult to submit to God?

6.28.09, Isaiah 1:24-25

²⁴ Therefore the Lord, the LORD Almighty,
the Mighty One of Israel, declares:
“Ah, I will get relief from my foes
and avenge myself on my enemies.

²⁵ I will turn my hand against you;
I will thoroughly purge away your dross
and remove all your impurities.

Cross Purposes

There is something cool happening in these two verses.  It seems like God is angry in verse 24, is going to punish and avenge himself on those who have done wrong.  Now if we look at this verse all by itself, it seems like a typical Old Testament passage, where God is going to smite this and that, and that’s the end of it.

But in verse 25, we get a glimpse into what that vengence is actually like, that God will purge away dross and impurities, which is actually something beneficial and good!  Now this is strange, very strange – what is God planning to do?  Is he going to punish those who do wrong, or help them?

The answer is…he’s going to do both.

For us, we think that punishment (or bad stuff happening to us) is always, categorically bad.  No good can come out of bad circumstances, it’s just God’s way of punishing us.  But that is not why God punishes, and that is not the limit of what God wants to accomplish when he at times drops the hammer on us.  He does so ultimately to do a better work in us, to do something that is difficult to do in any other way.  You could rephrase it in this way: “I’m going to punish you!… So you can be even better off than you were before.”

This may seem like wishful thinking, or just me being really creative…but think of the cross.  Out of a moment of brutality and torment and death, we get new and eternal life!  Obviously, God is able to transform some bad situations into good blessings for us.

Questions

1. Have you ever felt like God was punishing you for something you did?  Did any good come out of that tough time?

2. What is one situation where you think no good could ever come out of it?

3. What are the “dross” and “impurities” in your life, the sins that are really entrenched?  What would it take for you to stop doing those things?

6.26.09, Isaiah 1:21-23

²¹ See how the faithful city
has become a harlot!
She once was full of justice;
righteousness used to dwell in her—
but now murderers!

²² Your silver has become dross,
your choice wine is diluted with water.

²³ Your rulers are rebels,
companions of thieves;
they all love bribes
and chase after gifts.
They do not defend the cause of the fatherless;
the widow’s case does not come before them.

The Truth of Sin

Throughout Isaiah, you will find incredible metaphors and descriptions, some of the most beautiful found in all of Scripture.  We will come in contact with more of them with time, but we first deal with a not-so-pretty metaphor, equating Israel with a whore.  Although this is a harsh description, it is not an uncommon one – the entire book of Hosea uses a similar idea, where Hosea takes an unfaithful woman as his wife, an analogy of how Israel is unfaithful to God.  It is also a common image that is used in apocalyptic literature like the book of Revelation.

A few items to think about: first, it is important to understand that God may hate a behavior without hating a person.  Here we see prostitution as an obviously negative metaphor, but God doesn’t despise prostitutes – instead, it seems that Jesus welcomed them and helped them reform their lives.  The same applies to Israel – although they are described in harsh terms, God’s love for them is not diminished.  He despises their behavior, but still loves them as his people.

But at the same time, this description is not an exaggeration.  I often feel this way about Scripture, that some passages must be an exaggeration: “That really didn’t happen, that’s just God trying to make a point, etc.”  But let’s suppose for a moment that the language that is used here is NOT an exaggeration, but an accurate description, that when we follow other idols, and when we refuse to help those in need, it’s like we are whoring ourselves, and nothing less

Again, this doesn’t mean that God loves us any less…but it does mean that our behavior is repulsive and should be dealt with immediately.  The truth of our sin isn’t pretty, but very fortunately, is balanced out by the faithful love of our Father.

Questions:

1. What do you consider the most repulsive, disgusting sins that someone could commit?  Why are these sins more disgusting than average?

2. What is the danger in placing a grade or value on types of sin, as worse or better?

3. The message of this passage is that our sin is terrible, but our God is wonderful – which of these do you have a harder time accepting?

6.24.09, Isaiah 1:18-20

 ¹⁸ ”Come now, let us reason together,” 
       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 best from the land;

 ²⁰ but if you resist and rebel, 
       you will be devoured by the sword.” 
       For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

An Appeal to Reason

We have taken a lot of time just looking at these opening verses because they provide such a wealth of context, how and why God has taken such a firm tone with the nation of Israel.  This has been a really good reminder even in my own personal life, that I have so many reasons to listen to God, who is my Father, who wants the best for me and from me!

And here is one more reason still!

Here, we see Isaiah turn to an appeal to reason, to a simple logical explanation of the situation: obedience brings good things, disobedience hurts us.  And you’ll note that this logic that Isaiah employs here is so simple, so black and white (or red and white, as it were): that our sins are as scarlet, but can be made white as snow.  It’s not even as if it’s really a hard decision!

I think this is yet another good reminder for us as to the character of God – that he is reasonable.  What a strange word to describe God!  So rarely used, that we serve a reasonable God.  We know we serve a holy God, a powerful, a loving one, even an angry one at times…but reasonable?  But this is what we find in this passage.

And this is infinitely reassuring to me, that God is not a crazy, capricious, do-anything for no apparent reason kind of God.  What he does, he does for a reason.  What he wants, he wants for a purpose.  He has a mind, and our own somewhat logical mind is made in the image of his!  To me, this indicates that this is a God that we can relate to and understand, at least to some extent.

And this should change many things in our lives – how we pray; how we view the circumstances of our lives, no matter how difficult; how we feel towards God, hopefully that we feel a little closer to him than if he were a crazy, incomprehensible God that we might have seen him as previously…

Questions

1. How does knowing that God is reasonable change your perception of Him?

2. Does it change your perception of any of the circumstances you find yourself in?

3. How could it change the way in which you pray?

6.15.09, Isaiah 1:17

¹⁷ learn to do right!
Seek justice,
encourage the oppressed.
Defend the cause of the fatherless,
plead the case of the widow.

The “What” of Rebuke, Part IV

(I will be traveling with my family throughout this week, so will not be able to post Wednesday or Friday’s devotional.  Good time to try out other resources!)

So, a quick review of what we’ve seen in Isaiah 1 thus far – that God is our Father who has personally reared us (the Who).  God the Father rebukes us because we are harming ourselves (the Why).  The rebuke initially challenges Israel to end their sinful actions, their incorrect and idolatrous New Moon and Sabbath celebrations (the What, Part I).  And then the rebuke transitions into calling Israel to learn to do right instead, at the same time stopping the wrongs (the What, Part II).

A lot for 17 verses…

Now the “right” that God calls Israel to take up is a life of compassion, including: seeking justice, encouraging the oppressed, defending the cause of the fatherless, and pleading the case of the widow.  A few thoughts on this life God calls Israel, and us, to follow:

Very often, I am very passive about my compassion.  I WILL help…if someone asks me for help.  I help when it somehow affects me.  If a person in need knocks on my door, I’ll lend a hand.  But this kind of compassion can be done sitting on the couch – and it is not the compassion that God calls us to.

All of those elements described in verse 17 are active verbs: seeking, encouraging, defending, pleading.  I think this highlights that a life of compassion is an active one, where we actively look and identify those who need help, and actively think of ways to come alongside of them, in the way that Christ came alongside of us.  After all, Christ did not sit in the comfort of heaven, waiting for people to knock on his door.  He sought them out, incarnated himself as a man into our midst so he could personally address our needs.

One more observation, one that requires us to wade into difficult material.  You’ll notice also that verse 17 is not a plea, or a logical argument or a deduction – it is a command.  DO these things, with no real “because”.  We seek, and encourage, defend and plead because our God, this King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the one who ransomed us with his own life, tells us to.  Nothing more.

Why is this important?  Because we so often think we need more justification than this (this will get complicated, but I think it’s important).  A lot of people use their understanding of the book of Revelation (called eschatology), to be their motivation for doing good and being compassionate.  Some believe that Christians should be able to fix things before Christ comes, and THAT is why we are compassionate – because we will succeed (postmillennialists).  But others believe that nothing will be fixed until AFTER Christ comes, and so our compassion can never fully succeed (premillennialists).  This debate has actually shaped how the church has pursued its calling to compassion, sometimes stifling our mercy, and at other times, diluting the saltiness of the gospel.

But this verse in Isaiah reminds us of our true reason as to why we strive to live lives of active compassion – because God commands it of us.  Whether we succeed before Christ comes or not is largely inconsequential, and seems to demand that God justify himself to us for our efforts – “God, I’ll only do this if it’s worth doing.”  But the Lord need not do this.  If he commands us to actively pursue compassion, then we actively pursue compassion.

Since when does the Lord need to further justify or convince us to obey what he commands?

Questions

1. In what ways have you been passively compassionate?

2. What are ways in which you can actively pursue compassion where you live, and where you work?

3. Have you ever found yourself demanding explanation or justification from God for what he is doing?  Although this is completely natural, why might this be harmful?

6.12.09, Isaiah 1:17

¹⁷ learn to do right!
Seek justice,
encourage the oppressed.
Defend the cause of the fatherless,
plead the case of the widow.

The What of Rebuke, Part III

Until now, the content of God’s rebuke recorded in Isaiah seems to be focused on getting Israel to stop their misinformed and idolatrous behavior, but here we see that there is yet an additional element to this admonition, that they begin to do what is right instead.

But before we go onto this, it is important to dwell on one point – that we cannot pick and choose when it comes to rebuke.  This rebuke given in Isaiah is two-sided: to stop doing evil and learn to do right.  It is not an either/or situation, but both/and.  There is no choice of doing one and not the other – they are both part and parcel of what it means to be God’s people.

For us, some may put an end to behaviors and mentalities which do not glorify God… but just leave it at that, not taking up our responsibility to be a light unto others.  And likewise, some of us may just want to do good things to balance out the evil that we have done, but allow the evil to remain.  But this is only half the equation as well.

The closest analogy I can think of is when we go to the doctor, and he tells us that in order to prevent a heart attack, we have to stop eating fat and begin to exercise.  BOTH are required in order to effectively safeguard our health, but how often do we choose the easier of the two?  Or neither??

I think what this means is that when we find ourselves in a place of being rebuked by God, we need to not be hasty, but listen or discern the full content of what God may want from or for us, both stopping the sin as well as learning to do right.  And though this would extend the process of rebuke, something that no one wants, we should allow it do so because, remember… it is our Father who is bringing it to our attention, and for our good.

Questions:

1. Have you ever found yourself in a situation like this, where God wanted you to both stop, and start, doing something in your life?

2. Which do you typically find harder to do – stopping the wrongs, or learning the rights?

3. Why do you think both are so vital to address?  Is it better to do one before the other?

6.10.09, Isaiah 1:11-16

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 evil assemblies.

¹⁴ Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts
my soul hates.
They have become a burden to me;
I am weary of bearing them.

¹⁵ When you spread out your hands in prayer,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even if you offer many prayers,
I will not listen.

¹⁶ wash and make yourselves clean.
Take your evil deeds
out of my sight!
Stop doing wrong,
Your hands are full of blood;

The What of Rebuke, Part II

Nope, no mistake – we are staying on these verses for a little while longer.  We saw in the last devotional that the sin that God is rebuking here is not the type of thing we think typically displeases God – instead, he is addressing false religiosity.  And it is detestable to him because it misses the mark, and actually blinds us to God’s true desire.

But there is another reason why these festivals and ceremonies earn such a stiff rebuke from God – because they became a refuge for idolatry.  You see, these ceremonies were intended to solely celebrate God’s faithfulness, but over time, they began to be blended with other neighboring religious traditions and practices, losing nearly all of their intended purpose.  This idolatry will become a constant theme throughout this book, and is part of the reason why Isaiah begins in such a confrontational manner.

And at the same time, I believe this rebuke is just as applicable in our time.  When we conceive of sin, we think about lust or gossip, but rarely “idolatry”, or placing things higher in priority than God.  But this is a dangerous oversight because idolatry is firmly addressed throughout Scripture – it is, after all, the FIRST of the ten commandments.

But more than this, idolatry, in one form or another, lies at the root of so many of our sins.  Greed is a form of idolatry, idolizing wealth.  Lust is also a form of idolatry, idolizing our bodies or pleasure.  So even if we do not have wooden idols on our mantels, we still have many idols in our midst that actively compete for priority with the primacy of God.

Our situation is not really all that different from Israel’s, in this way.  If these idolatrous practices in Israel were this detestable to God, then our idolatrous lifestyle is no less so.  And that is why it is important to ask ourselves some tough questions…

Questions:

1.  What, or whom, in your life is more important than God?

2. What sinful or destructive behavior or mentalities has this led to in your life?

3. What would it take to begin to combat these idolatries?

6.8.09, Isaiah 1:11-16

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 evil assemblies.

¹⁴ Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts
my soul hates.
They have become a burden to me;
I am weary of bearing them.

¹⁵ When you spread out your hands in prayer,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even if you offer many prayers,
I will not listen.

¹⁶ wash and make yourselves clean.
Take your evil deeds
out of my sight!
Stop doing wrong,
Your hands are full of blood;

The What of Rebuke, Part I

So after quickly but effectively establishing the context for what is about to be said, Isaiah launches into the actual content of what is displeasing God.  But as before, it is important not to rush through this too quickly, for the rebuke actually consists of different, but intertwined parts.

The first element of the rebuke that Isaiah gives is a command to stop doing wrong, as stated in verse 16.  This seems ordinary enough, and most of us could quickly bring to mind behaviors or mentalities that we know we should put an end to – you know, the prototypical “sins”.

But this is not exactly what Isaiah is referencing here – these “wrongs” that displease God are not marital unfaithfulness or the like (which still of course displease God)…but the New Moon festivals, and Sabbath events.  This reference is hard for us to relate to in our time, but there were important reasons why these festivals did produce such a strong rebuke from God.

For today, let’s just focus on one of those reasons: that they completely missed the true heart of God.  The people of Israel thought THIS is what the Lord wanted: religious gatherings, sacrifices, observances.  It represents a particular kind of mentality, one where we want to get by in our walk by the skin of our teeth: “To be faithful, all I have to do is X, Y, and Z, because that’s all that God wants.”

But this totally misses the mark.  God doesn’t want religion, a series of observances and rules that must be followed in order to please him – he wants our hearts, and he wants us to know HIS heart.  In other words…he wants a true relationship.  And so we can’t imagine that we’re okay with God just because we’ve satisfied his religiosity quotas, or a spirituality checklist.  Rather, his checklist looks something like this:

O Do I have his whole heart?

O Do I have his whole mind?

O Do I have his whole soul?

These are the things that God desires from us, and which will be preached by Christ himself…BUT, two important clarifications, lest we get confused and run too far with this idea:

1. These religious actions that we try to pursue, attending church, reading the Bible, serving, etc., may not be what God is satiated by…but they may be very helpful in positioning us to really hear from God.  You see, there is a difference in pursuing these practices because we think the placate God, and pursuing these practices because we get to know God more through them.  So DON’T STOP ATTENDING CHURCH – just don’t attend church because you think that’s all you need to do to get God off your back.  Attend church because you can meet your Father there.

2. When we do get closer to fulfilling God’s checklist (the one listed above), we naturally will begin to do things that seem religious - we naturally will get to church.  We will instinctively and often open our bibles.  We naturally will tithe, and serve our brothers and sisters.  But we sometimes get confused and put the cart before the horse, thinking that God can be satiated just by good actions alone – no, he is satiatied by devoted hearts, hearts that naturally lead to devoted actions.

Whew, that was more of a homily than a devotional – and I haven’t even gotten to the second reason why these festivals were detestable to God!  A few things to reflect upon:

Questions:

1. What is your “New Moon Festival”, a practice or action that you think, in itself, is what God wants from you?

2. If that practice in itself is not what God is looking for…what is he looking for instead?

3. How can you practically transition from a mentality that does religious things because it pleases God, to a better mentality where we do religious things because it sets us up to meet God?

The “Who” of Rebuke

So up to this point, we have seen two contextual elements of rebuke: the WHO, and the WHY.  Of course, Isaiah does not simply stop with these, but will go on to discuss the actual content of what is displeasing God.  But I think it is important to spend some time dwelling on these important pieces of context, because the who and why of rebuke really shapes how we receive discipline or warning.

For example, why is the “who” of rebuke important to us?  Why doesn’t Isaiah just cut right to the chase and identify the core issue which displeases God?  Because our receptivity to a rebuke depends greatly upon who is dishing that rebuke out.  If someone whom you don’t know, or don’t respect, is telling you that you have done something wrong, our natural inclination is reject their opinion out of hand as either mean-spirited, or simply incorrect.  But if it comes from someone whom we genuinely love, and admire, we are much more likely to look for truth in what we are hearing, no matter how difficult it may be to hear.

This is valuable for us in two respects: first, helping us remember that the God who sometimes rebukes and corrects us is our loving and wise Father.  And because of this identity, we should be mining these moments of rebuke and admonition for greater truth.  So in order to have the patience to learn what we can from rebuke…we must really know God as our Father.  If he is a Taskmaster-God, or a Slavedriver-God, then we will only see his rebuke as punishment, rather than what it really is – the Father’s discipline.

But additionally, this principle should also inform how we give rebuke.  Rebuke is never pleasant, but it is often necessary in the life of the church.  But when we rebuke, we should very careful that we are the right person to do it.  Do we really know this person?  Do they trust us?  Have you shown concern for their best interest before?  If not, there is probably very little chance that anyone will have the patience to look for the good that you have to say.

I had a friend rebuke me a few years ago – pulled me aside, and told me that he didn’t feel like my words were appropriate.  I instinctively defended myself and my actions and assumed that he was overly-sensitive.  But in the midst of this conversation, I remembered who I was talking to – my friend.  He’s smart, and a good person, and has shown concern for me before.  And so I consciously bit back on my verbal defenses, and instead gave real thought to his words – and he was right.  Dead on the money.  He was the right person to rebuke me, and his words of correction, I carry with me to this day.

All of this is leading up to the WHAT of rebuke, exactly what is displeasing God.  The question is whether Israel will accept what Isaiah has to say, even if it comes from a loving Father?

Questions:

1. How would you honestly describe God?  Is he a Father, a Teacher, a Slave Driver, a Judge?  Has your perception of God ever affected your interpretation of why God was doing something in your life?

2. Is there someone whom you have rebuked, but realized you were not the right person?  Is there a person whom you should rebuke, because you are the right person?

6.3.09, Isaiah 1:5-9

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 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 The Daughter of Zion is left
like a shelter in a vineyard,
like a hut in a field of melons,
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.

The “Why” of Rebuke

So we are continuing our look at the rebuke of Isaiah – last time, we saw that the character of God during rebuke was one of a father, a father who cared and had even nursed his children.  Here, we come to the centerpiece of what rebuke is all about:

God rebukes us because we need it.

Here we see why God sent Isaiah – not to just yell at them and make them feel bad about their national identity.  God sends Isaiah to Israel because their lifestyle has made them broken and wounded and afflicted.  God rebukes Israel because he wants them to be whole, but they persist in destroying themselves.  In essence, a rebuke from God can be retranslated and simplified as thus: “Stop hurting yourself!!”

Last week, Sophia tried to run out into the street by herself.  I barked out, “SOPHIA, STOP!” loudly.  She had a frightened look on her face, and I could see that her feelings were hurt.  She was upset at me, and didn’t think she deserved to be yelled at.  But if I hadn’t responded in that way, she might have thought that running into the street just wasn’t a big deal, and would do it again.  And if she got killed by a passing car, I would have regretted to the bottom of my being not yelling as loudly as my body would allow.

This is rebuke: God yelling out at us, “STOP!  Stop hurting yourself!  Stop running into the street!  You’re going to get yourself killed, and break my heart!”  Yes, that rebuke may hurt our feelings.  We may feel like we don’t deserve such treatment.  But we can trust that the louder God yells, the greater the danger we were heading for.

Questions:

- Has there ever been a time where you didn’t heed someone’s warning or rebuke…and regretted not listening to them more closely?

- When do you think God rebuked you the most heavily?  Why was that issue so important to him?