282 - “God Never Intended for Us to Be attached to Anyone but Him” Isaiah 5-6; Ephesians 4

 

 Isaiah 5:10  I wonder if we can hear the God-of-the-Angel-Armies say today: "Those mighty houses will end up empty. Those extravagant estates will be deserted...they have nothing to do with the work of God."  Oh God, may we spend the rest of our days advancing your Kingdom---it's our prayer that we work righteousness, Isaiah 5:17.  Would you please, Holy God, show up and show us what "holy" is through these words of Isaiah? 

Isaiah 6:1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Master sitting on a throne—high, exalted!  Would you expose what men and women we put up on a pedestal thinking they are stronger, wiser like this king who caused a stir in his death.  May we follow no man?  Attach me to No One but You.

Isiah 6:8  Gone your guilt, your sins wiped out." And then I heard the voice of the Master:  Whom shall I send?"  Would You help us deal with our sins this day, this moment?  Our lack of love.

 God Promises us Light.

He reveals the motivations of our hearts,

fallenness or redemption.

In our every move.

It was this very day that a friend said:  "Church is the highlight of my week.  

It is how I make it through.  I just cannot wait to worship each week."  

For many, their hope lies in religious activity, beautiful music. Exactly what Micah 6:6 says.

Hear now what the Lord is saying,

With what shall I come to the Lord

And bow myself before the God on high?

Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings,

With yearling calves?

Does the Lord take delight in thousands of rams,

In ten thousand rivers of oil?

He has told you, O man, what is good;

And what does the Lord require of you

But to do justice, to love kindness,

And to walk humbly with your God?

This isn't about religious activity.

Going to church to feel good about a Good God

Who lives and longs to bless me.

This is about:

"Do you see brokenness before a Holy God?

Do you see lament over the struggle with emptiness and failure?

Do you see repentance from ways of relating 

that deserve severe punishment?

But as for me, I will watch expectantly for the Lord;
I will wait for the God of my salvation
Though I fall I will rise;
Though I dwell in darkness, the Lord is a light for me.

PHOTO:  One day our houses will be empty.  It's what we did to advance the Kingdom of God that will stand true.  It's our prayers that will come true.  Send these two, what little is left for the grandfather, and what much is left for the grandchild.  Send them both.