READ ISAIAH 1:10–17
He was flat on his back in a hospital bed, but he could not understand why. He attended every doctor’s appointment. He bought every prescription and read every journal, but a heart attack laid him out. Maybe it was because he never actually took those medicines or followed the advice in those articles. He was on time for his appointments, but he didn’t actually listen to his doctor. He did many right things, but they didn’t help his heart.
At the beginning of the Book of Isaiah, God’s people seemed too busy checking their holy to-do lists to see the misery in their land. Isaiah called them on it.
Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow (Isaiah 1:17).
They were following many of the outward rules, but their hearts were not right in God’s sight.
Reading the Word is pointless without doing what it says (James 1:22). Wear your church clothes, then roll up your sleeves and fix a single mom’s car. Raise your hands in worship then use them to feed the hungry.
Thought for Today: We prove we believe what Christ said when we do what He did.
