Today, I am reading and commenting on Isaiah 64-66.

Isaiah calls on God to d wondrous things once more.  He tells us that in all of history no one has perceived any other god like God, who acts on behalf of those who remember His ways and gladly do right.  However, instead of doing so, Isaiah says that we sinned against God’s ways and made Him angry.  Despite this, He is the potter molding our clay, making us into vessels which serve His purpose.  Then Isaiah switches to speaking from God’s perspective.  God declares that He revealed Himself to those who did not seek Him.  He called out to those who refused to listen because they thought they were too good to associate with those He had chosen.  Isaiah speaks of the blatantly obvious sins committed by those who hold themselves too righteous to associate with others, but I think most of the sins he mentions are metaphors for sins which we all too easily dismiss as not a big deal.  Yet, for all of our sins, God is going to call some of us to be His servants.  He will call those whom the self-righteous think are too unholy to associate with.  God will call them from all nations.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Isaiah 64-66.

Isaiah wraps up his prophecies by revisiting a few of the themes which were throughout his book.  Today’s passage begins with a reminder that no one has ever seen any God aside from the true God.  While other things, and beings, and creatures have been worshiped by people, none of them acts on behalf of those who trust them in the way and with the power which God acts on behalf of those who trust Him and remember His ways.  Yet, despite that truth we still sin against Him and provoke His anger, and what can save us from His anger?  Only God’s love can, and fortunately will, save us from His justified anger at us.  For we are the work of His hand, and He will mold us and make us into vessels that bring glory to His name.  God will reveal Himself to those who do not look for Him and He will be found by those not searching for Him.   Which brings us to the second theme Isaiah prophesied about repeatedly: those who proclaim themselves servants of God while committing wicked acts in secret.  God will bring judgement upon them and show all their dirty secrets.  Those who truly serve God will experience joy, but those who only do so with their mouths while their acts bring harm to others will experience suffering beyond measure.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Isaiah 64-66.

Isaiah tells us that at no point in history has anyone seen or heard of any god other than God who acts on behalf of those who gladly do what is right.  Despite the fact that we have seen and heard what He will do for those who do right, we have sinned against Him.  So, how can we be saved?  By recognizing that we are the work of His hand.  He has revealed Himself to us before we thought to seek Him, or even ask about Him.  He has come to us, those who accept His presence with humility and a contrite spirit will be saved.  However, He has destined for the sword those who believe they will be defiled by associating with others, despite having defiled themselves already by not listening to God’s call for justice and compassion.

 I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Isaiah 64-66.

I will start with where the prophet tells us that no one has heard of, seen, or perceived in anyway another god like God.  One can interpret what the prophet says in different ways.  But, to me, it reminds me of the fact that all other gods that have been worshiped throughout human history have a mythology that have them coming into existence after the beginning of the Universe.  Only the Hebrews worshiped a God who existed before anything else.   But the prophet tells us that God is unique in more ways than that.  Unlike other gods, God acts on behalf of those who serve Him, and helps those who gladly do what is right.

The prophet goes on to write that God revealed Himself to those who did not ask for Him and was found by those who did not seek Him.  God presents Himself to us, despite the fact that we repeatedly reject Him.  He holds out His hands to embrace us, even after we have attempted to give His place to something else.  God invites us to come back to Him.  Yet we have a tendency to push others away from Him as too unclean to be near us, when we defile ourselves by sins without measure.  If we wish to accept God’s salvation we must humbly recognize our own sin, we must recognize that no one, let alone ourselves, have any righteousness of their own.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Isaiah 64-66.

Since I am going to be on vacation from July 31-August 9 I have already written my blog posts for these days and scheduled them to be posted.  However, I may not be able to post a link to them on FaceBook, Gab.com, or MeWe.com during every day (or any day) during this time period.  So, please continue to visit my site to read my daily devotional.

Yet another day where I am not quite sure what I am going to write.  So, I will just start writing the thoughts which I have and see where that leads me.  Isaiah asks how can we be saved when all of us are unclean and our righteous acts are filthy rags.   God answers Isaiah’s question by telling us that He revealed Himself to those who did not ask for Him and was found by those who did not seek Him.  But God also condemns those who hold themselves better than others while wallowing in sin.  Of those he says:

“I called but you did not answer,
    I spoke but you did not listen.
You did evil in my sight
    and chose what displeases me.”

Instead let us humbly throw ourselves upon God’s mercy, for He tells us:

“These are the ones I look on with favor:
    those who are humble and contrite in spirit,
    and who tremble at my word.”

I recognize that I am not worthy of God’s forgiveness, but He extends it to me anyway.  And, if He is willing to forgive me, surely He will forgive you.  Please understand, we should all take that attitude.  All anyone must do is recognize their own sinfulness and turn to God, asking Him to transform them into His likeness.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Isaiah 64-66.

Isaiah tells us that God welcomes those who gladly do good, but that we are not godly.  We are constant sinners, every one of us.  We call to God for help, but not really.  God stands ready to respond, but no one actually asks for His help.  Instead of asking God to transform us into godly people whom He can bless, we ask Him to accept our sinfulness as righteous.  We do things which God has declared as detestable, then tell others not to get too close to us because they might defile us.

This passage reminded me of the news around us.  There are people who will beat someone up for not wearing a mask in public, and others who will beat someone up for asking them to wear a mask.  Both think they are more righteous than the other.  But Isaiah tells us that those whom God will bless are those with a humble and contrite heart.  If you think that you are holier, more righteous, better than others, you just haven’t been listening when God speaks.  There is more in this passage I would like to write about, but doing so would dilute that message.  I will come before God with a humble and contrite heart.  I am not better than you, or anyone else.  I am but a sinner whose only redeeming features come from the grace of God.