He wants our hearts

Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations—I cannot bear your worthless assemblies. Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals I hate with all my being. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.~Isaiah 1:13-14

God doesn’t want our sacrifice, He wants our hearts.  In the first chapter of Isaiah we see God speaking to the rebellious nation of Israel ( Judah and Jerusalem); to His children. ( Isaiah 1:2).  He tells the earth how He has raised them, yet they have turned their backs on them.  He details the corruption that is in the land.   

He goes on to describe their stubbornness.  They have been punished, beaten.  The graphic language used to describe their wounds is caustic ( Isaiah 1:5-6).  Desolation is all around ( Isaiah 1:7-8).  Yet, they do not come to God with a repentant heart, but rather with traditions and rituals as if the firm of godliness can “buy off” God or cause Him to relent in His righteous judgement. God’s response to their sacrifices is one of rejection.  He describes their sacrifices as burdensome. ( Isaiah 1:13-14).  

It can be so easy to look at the nation of Israel or others and wag our fingers and shake our head at their fallen state, but this lesson from God is for me too.  It is important that I examine myself and think about my worship of God.   Am I coming to Him thinking I can use praise to cover my unwillingness to forgive another or my attempts to justify my attitudes towards people who think differently from me?

Do I think that paying my tithes is enough to hold my fist tight when I see a stranger in need?  Am I taking the awesomeness of His grace that allows me to enter His presence and fellowship with Him for granted?  Am I letting myself be covered with dross of religion?  Is my heart being hardened by the fat of comfort and complacency?

We know that God delights in our obedience(1 Samuel 15:22 ). He loves us and wants to fellowship with us, but He desires that we come to Him with a clean heart. He desires that we delight ourselves in Him and to commit ourselves to His ways ( Psalm 37:4-5).  

Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong.

Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed.Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.~Isaiah 1:16-17

Here’s the thing about God that I love.  He doesn’t just call out our sins and leave us hanging without hope. He corrects us because He loves us.  His love for us shows us how to get back on the right path.  His love points us back to the Cross where His Son shed His blood for us; the blood that cleanses is from all sin ( 1John 1:7). 

God doesn’t want us to stay in a state of rebellion or to miss out on what real fellowship with Him means.   He wants so much more than religion, He wants my heart.

Father, I thank You for your truth.  I thank You for sounding the alarm to complacency.   May I seek You with my whole heart.  May I commit myself to your ways and obey your word.  In Jesus name I pray.  Amen