ISAIAH 1
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.
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.
BRINGING THE WRONG THINGS TO GOD
The Bible is so full of comforting words. So it may come as a shock, when we read passages like this. The church today loves to say that it’s like the Children of Israel, when they went to the promised land. Let’s hope that isn’t the case, given that it took them 40 years to travel to reach the Promised Lan when it should have only taken 3 months! What happened when they got to the Promised Land is also something we do not want to imitate; they started quite well but their idolatry placed them back in bondage.
The prophet Isaiah wrote in sixty six chapters words of divine comfort, but also of divine warning. Here God sets out his case against his people, oh we say, it doesn’t apply to us, it applies to the Children of Israel. Who are you kidding? It does apply to us, because we do all the things outlined above.
God does not appreciate any kind of sham worship.. JESUS said that God should be worshipped God in spirit and in truth John 4:24. Are you as a church doing any of the things that God is not interested in?
Look at verse 13, solemn meetings and assemblies. You can have meeting after meeting, but they can mean nothing. The Ephesian church in Revelation 2, had much activity, but it was still criticised by Jesus as a church that had left it’s first love. Meetings and activities do not equate to spirituality or revival.
If our worship to God is not right, then we can pray all we want. Our hearts need to be right before Him. Remember if we regard sin in our heart, then what happens? GOD WILL NOT HEAR US.
These are frightening words, they should make every Christian, every pastor and every church tremble. The Lord is saying.. I am sick of all this sham religion, believe me, he can see right through it.
Let us bring the right things to God, let us bring sincere hearts longing to be made right by Him.
Please read Psalm 24 for further study, it will tell you the right things to bring to God.
God bless you
keith