The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught." (Isaiah 29:13)
Do we merely go through the motions and follow the "rules" or do we truly give God our love and devotion? We must worship God with complete honesty and sincerity or our faith with become a religion of routine.
Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help,
who rely on horses,
who trust in the multitude of their chariots
and in the great strength of their horsemen,
but do not look to the Holy One of Israel,
or seek help from the Lord.
Yet he too is wise and can bring disaster;
he does not take back his words.
He will rise up against that wicked nation,
against those who help evildoers.
But the Egyptians are mere mortals and not God;
their horses are flesh and not spirit.
When the Lord stretches out his hand,
those who help will stumble,
those who are helped will fall;
all will perish together.
(Isaiah 31:1-3)
How often don't we look to the wrong place for protection and help rather than going to the one who can actually protect us? That's what the people of Judah were doing. They were trusting in humans and looking for protection from Egypt and by doing this they were violating God's stipulation in Deuteronomy 17:16 to "not to go back that way again". It is good to seek help when we have problems but we should never bypass God or his previous directions to us.
Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage: Isaiah 32-35
2 comments:
And the Lord said: "Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men, - Isaiah 29:13
This verse stood out to me too. It is much easier to speak something than it is to actually do something.
I want to my heart to continue to grow closer to God and that I would only seek his council and protection.
Both those same passages stood out to me as well.
The way we live our lives reflects what we actually believe, no matter what our lips say; and in whom we trust.
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