Second Sunday After Pentecost: Old Testament: Isaiah 65:1-9                                    

Isaiah 65:1-9 

Our lesson today points to failure on the part of God’s people. What makes it most difficult to read is that the failure is willful. It is rebellion. Anyone who loves the Scriptures and reads them correctly will find that is the natural bent of mankind. Rebellion, both open and hidden, is our mode of operation outside of God’s grace.

In Isaiah 65 it takes the form of false worship. “...they made offerings on the mountains and insulted me on the hills”(v. 7b) References the prophet makes here to the worship of other gods alongside Him, in places where the heathen lift their efforts at placating their deities. It’s oil and water. It’s a stench in God’s nostrils. God will be worshiped His way. He simply will not receive anything less. And in biblical fashion, what is worship to God above all things is the faith of His people. That puts worship in the correct standing. Receiving the good gifts of God is where worship begins. It’s a point that ensures even our responses in praise and adoration are rightly ordered.

God needs nothing from us. But He does require something: faith. When He speaks we listen. And it is a hearing that brings joy. Because His speaking always brings Him to us. No other gods. Neither on the hills, nor anywhere else.

Worship God! (Rev. 22:9b)