It's a terrifying sight, this image of an angry, fiery God coming down to wreak havoc. Israel has seen it often, God devouring thier enemies. But this time is different.
This time, He is angry with them.
He has no problem with the sacrifices themselves, they are plentiful. God makes it clear that it is not the physical sacrifice He requires (OK, well He does, but just the physical sacrifice is not ALL He wants), rather it is a heart devoted, and serious about seeking Him.
It seems that Israel is guilty of offering sacrifice for sins, but not for thanks. I'm guilty on that one, too.
It seems that the sacrifices are offered, but the heart is far from meaning it. Dang, that's two.
Thankfully, God doesn't throw the strikeout accusation, instead, He offers us the way to get right: Give thanks, and be blameless. Giving thanks seems easy enough, but blameless? Not so much.
Unless you consider that God, the God of Grace, makes us clean when we sincerely repent and seek Him. Not when we offer hollow words and recite well-learned slogans, when we really mean it. We can be blameless, not because we do nothing wrong, but because we are truly contrite in our confession.
No comments:
Post a Comment