Theological Commentary: Click Here
Discipleship Focus: Up
- Up: Up is the word we use for what we worship. If we are following God’s will, God will occupy the Up position. Our life, our identity, our mission, our family on mission is all derived from Up. This is why God needs to be in our Up position.
Much of
the book of Isaiah will have to do with the rebellion of the Hebrew
people. This is readily known. The Hebrew people rebelled away from God
beginning slowly under the influence of Solomon and rapidly gaining ground with
many of the succeeding kings. Yes, there
were a few moments of reform. But those
moments of reform are few and far between.
Eventually God brought Assyria to conquer Israel and then Babylon to
conquer Judah.
The
important question is why. Not why did
God judge the people, of course. God
judged them because they rebelled. Why
did the people rebel in the first place?
Why would the willingly sacrifice a relationship with God?
God
points to it in this chapters quite plainly.
He abhors their offerings. Their
sacrifices mean nothing to Him. They are
just going through the motions. They
aren’t in genuine relationship with Him.
They are pursuing their own desires and trying to appease God whenever
they need to.
Fundamentally,
this is a conversation about Up. What
are we worshipping in life? Are we truly
worshipping God? Is He truly our hearts
desire? Or do we desire the fleshly
passions of our heart while trying to appease God to avoid judgment and wrath?
Trust me,
God knows the difference. He knew it
back then and He knows it now. He is not
fooled by our lip-service. He knows
whether He truly is the focus of our Up or not.
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