June 25, 2024
Read Judges 12, Isaiah 1, 2 Thessalonians 2
What comes to mind when you hear the word “rebel?” Is it a biker with a bunch of tattoos, a little child that holds their ground against a parent’s instruction, or maybe a political leader that stands against the incumbent government? Do you remember a time in your life when you were rebellious? What was it over?
The book of Isaiah opens with a charge that Israel has been rebellious. “Hear, O heavens! Listen, O earth! For the LORD has spoken: ‘I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me. 3 The ox knows his master, the donkey his owner’s manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand’” vv. 2-3. Those are sharp words from the Lord to be labeled lower than a donkey or ox. We often read the Old Testament and can think things like “Don’t the Israelites remember what God just did for them” or “How could they turn away from the Lord after everything He did for them?” We would be wise to remember that we too are often short-sighted and fall into the same mindset that Israel does.
Israel had become rebellious, but you might not have noticed it from the outside. They were still going though the motions and offering sacrifices and other ritualistic things, but it was their hearts that were not right. “ The multitude of your sacrifices— what are they to me?” says the LORD. “I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. 12 When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts?” vv. 11-12. God tells them through the prophet Isaiah, that their sacrifices are meaningless and that He can see right though them.
Are there any areas in our lives that we are still acting rebellious toward God? Are there any areas of our lives that we have yet to turn over fully to the Lordship of Christ? What else do you see in these chapters?
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DId God Really Say... 