Tuesday

Read Isaiah 1 today with much fear of the Lord. One thing that truly impacted me was the part where God makes it very clear that the meaningless and fruitless sacrifices offered up to Him by those who seemed zealous and yet... whose hands were stained with the blood of guilt and whose hearts were filled with religious hypocrisy - were nothing but abomination to Him. So what if we come to church in our Sunday-bests and do the best song rendition in the pews, when we do not care to repent from our sins or 'walk in the counsel of the wicked, stand in the way of sinners and sit in the seat of mockers' (Ps 1)? So what if we drop alot of money into the offering bag in the view of many others and yet never bother to genuinely help those in need? So what if we pray long prayers to be heard like the Pharisees and yet these are never from the overflow of a heart that knows God and loves Him?

God says outright, in Isaiah 1 - "I detest them." What is offerings and sacrifices, without obedience?

*Shivers*

Guys, do read Isaiah 1. I think it made me more repentant and thankful more than anything else for Christ. It is only through His blood we have a way to stand pure and blameless before a perfectly Holy God, when we do not in the least deserve it. It is through His name, we can pray - and know assuredly that the Father hears us. It is by His grace, we are snatched out of our doom of fire and brimstone.