Isaiah 58:2
(2) Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God.
This reminds me a lot of our New Age culture. Apparently a majority of Americans identify themselves as "Christians." Yet the practice of most self-identifying Christians would not stand up very well to scrutiny from the Word. So what does it mean?
I would maintain that there is a hunger to know God. However, we tend to want Him on our terms. We want to fashion Him in a way that is palatable to our tastes. We don't like this business of repenting and changing our lives. We certainly don't want to sacrifice for Him. Yet we say that we want Him.
Israel was no different in Isaiah's day. Read this verse in context of the whole chapter and you will see how the people wanted to know God, but they wanted Him on their terms.
I think it's very dangerous to approach God this way. It also makes me wonder in what ways I do the same thing.
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2 comments:
I've often thought that this was one meaning of the story of Lot's guest at Sodom. Lot, when faced with a divine visitor, wanted to show hospitality and obey. But the people of the town, seeing a divine visitor, wanted to consume and defile the visitor. I also feel that this is a foreshadowing of the verse where the people invited Christ to come to them, but "he did not go with them, for he knew what was in the heart of man".
Thanks for stopping by and commenting. I don't get a lot of commenters, so I appreciate the interaction.
I agree with you as I think that we're basically saying the same thing. It's easy to give lip-service to a desire for Christ, but what is in the heart? Is it an earnest desire for Him and for holiness or is it our own self-interests?
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