I want to home in on Isaiah 29:13-16 in our study today.
Here, God is speaking to those who belong to Him, in this case, the Jewish people. However, the verses pertain to us as well...unfortunately.
We are challenged by this passage of Scripture to ask ourselves what our faith really means to us, what our relationship with our God really means to us?
For some people who claim to follow God, He is a genie in a bottle. They take Him out and call on Him whenever they "need" Him.
For some, He is a convenience. Pledging their allegiance to them with their mouths helps their careers or their standing in the community; or, it keeps peace in their homes if they just "go along with the religious tradition".
For some, He is a cruel taskmaster, who gives a bunch of uncomfortable rules to follow; and, they follow them, usually out of guilt, .... or they don't.
I could go on.
In each of these cases, people are "worshipping" a caricature of the Savior, essentially, a false god. They have created a "golden calf" (Exodus 32). Lo and behold; their "worship" reflects it!
The Scriptures say: (vs. 13) - -
"These people come near to me with their mouth
and honor Me with their lips
but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship of me is based merely on human rules they have been taught."
And then....
There are those of us who have a vibrant relationship with our Savior. Yet, when we assemble for corporate worship, we are distracted by all sorts of carnality. "Ima gonna" step on some toes now.
Here are some examples:
"Why was HE picked to sing that solo?"
"I'm not going to sing this song; I don't like it."
"Why is the preacher going on and on and on? Doesn't he see that clock back there?!"
"Honestly, I believe that is the ugliest dress I've ever seen. Why did she decide to wear that?"
"I cannot STAND him; I wish he'd attend another church."
Matthew Henry's commentary puts it like this: that during worship they are "thinking of a thousand impertinences".
Come on now....don't sit there all "pious and smirky". You know what I'm talking about!
Do you know....our worship of Him is, in the best of situations, imperfect? What we are seeking to do (or should be) is to worship our God who is completely beyond our comprehension! How does one do that perfectly? It's impossible. But, the solution, the remedy, is to have our focus on Him as we worship as The Body of Christ, rather than focusing on other things.
If we don't approach God with the reverence in our hearts He deserves, doing our best to shut out all distractions, He will (as The Message puts it, vs. 14) "stand us on our ears". Sounds uncomfortable, even painful, doesn't it? It is.
This passage uses our corporate worship as an illustration, but the bigger picture is our very lives, how we walk with Him from day to day. We should approach all of life's circumstances with appropriate worship in our hearts for God. Do we?
If we are merely making a big show of saying and doing the right thing, acting like we have it all figured out, strutting about in our pride, posting Scripture on Facebook, but then not living it...
Look, then, at what God says He will do in response to this false piety, this charade:
He will remove from us the wisdom He has given us. Basically, he will turn us into foolish people.
See verses 14-15, (from The Message version) - - -
"The wise ones who had it all figured out will be exposed as fools.
The smart people who thought they knew everything will turn out to know nothing.
Doom to you! You pretend to have 'the inside track'.
You shut God out and work behind the scenes,
Plotting the future as if you knew everything
Acting mysterious, never showing your hand...
You have everything backwards!
God is saying here that, when we worship Him falsely or worship a false image of Him, we descend into foolishness. That foolishness is a type of "spiritual pride" that diminishes God's sovereignty, causing us to think that we are calling the shots, that we are in control. "We've got this!" No.
God then gives the visual of a lump of clay trying to direct the potter. Ridiculous!
Or, a meal proclaiming that the cook had nothing to do with its creation. Ludicrous!
God's response to our carnal waywardness or deliberate rebellion is often to bring circumstances into our lives which are beyond our "control", which hit us from "out of the blue", to let us know that He is all-wise, all-knowing, all-powerful....that He is The Potter, and we are the clay. But, be sure of this: His purpose is not to punish us; His purpose is to re-direct our worship away from ourselves and toward Him.
It is not possible to walk resplendent, if we forget this.
Dear Incomprehensible One, please have mercy on us and forgive us for making You over in our own image. And then....worshipping that false god. Please teach us gently to worship you "in spirit and in truth" (John 4:24), every day, in every step we take, so that we may become wise and walk....resplendent! In Jesus' name, amen.
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