August 21 - Isaiah 65:1-7

August 21 – Isaiah 65:1-7

“I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me. To a nation that did not call on my name, I said, ‘Here am I, here am I.’ All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations— a people who continually provoke me to my very face, offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on altars of brick; who sit among the graves and spend their nights keeping secret vigil; who eat the flesh of pigs, and whose pots hold broth of unclean meat; who say, ‘Keep away; don’t come near me, for I am too sacred for you!’ Such people are smoke in my nostrils, a fire that keeps burning all day.

“See, it stands written before me: I will not keep silent but will pay back in full; I will pay it back into their laps— both your sins and the sins of your fathers,” says the LORD. “Because they burned sacrifices on the mountains and defied me on the hills, I will measure into their laps the full payment for their former deeds.”

Scholars debate whether God is talking to the Jews or Gentiles in the opening of this chapter, but I think He still talks to us today.

God constantly reaches out to us … constantly.  He doesn’t stop.  Even when we don’t actively seek Him, He is there – ready to be found.  When we don’t call on His name, He still says, “Here I am.”  He holds His hands out to us even when we are at our most obstinate.

We do everything possible to offend God.  We sin against Him in every way possible, yet He continually stands ready to gather us to Himself.

Before Jesus gave Himself on the cross as the final sacrifice in a system that required humanity to offer sacrifices in order to remain pure and be able to approach God in His divinity, there was always a question as to whether the sacrifices would be approved by God.  He had laid out His law so that there should be no question, but here He tells them that their sacrifices weren’t enough.  They would never be enough for the sins that had been committed.

Jesus Christ came to take care of our incredible sins, so that when God reaches out to us, we can reach Him without fear.  Even when we don’t know that God is reaching to us, caring for us, or loving us, He is … always.