Isaiah 1:13 – “Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths, and convocations—I cannot bear your evil assemblies.” (NIV)
Today’s One Year Bible reading in the Old Testament begins the book of Isaiah. Chapter one opens with a description of the spiritual condition of Israel, which is deplorable. Verse 21 offers a perplexity all too common in our modern day: “How the faithful city has become a harlot! It was full of justice; righteousness lodged in it, but now murderers.” A city (or a people) that was once full of faithfulness, justice, and righteousness has become the complete opposite. These scenarios throughout scripture always come to me as a reminder that the way things are presently does not guarantee the same condition in the future.
How does one go from doing good things (like giving and praying— chapter 1:13,15) that we are instructed to do in scripture, to doing those same things, but God does not take pleasure in them anymore? Two words: forget and forsake. Earlier in chapter one we are told that God’s people forgot who their Master was (v.3) and they forsook the Lord (v.4). When you forget you belong to God and you are no longer your own, you begin a path that is self-absorbed. It won’t be too long that you will find yourself in all kinds of religious activity (like praying and giving) for conscience sake, but it will no longer be with a heart that is right before God.
There are three things God’s people are told in today’s reading to stop doing.
1. Stop bringing meaningless offerings – v.13. The people are not told to stop giving. They are told to stop giving meaningless offerings. How sad that things can get so bad that our offerings are no longer pleasing to God. 2. Stop doing wrong – v.16. The people were praying and giving but that wasn’t a substitute for living right. Verses 16 and 17 contain eight things to do that would be pleasing to God. Remember, religious activity cannot replace living right. 3. Stop trusting in man – 2:22. When we stop looking to God we will begin to rely on man. God must always be your Source and the one you depend upon.
In a day filled with “to do” lists, what do we need to stop doing that would be just as pleasing to the Lord?