"Don't Tell Me Those Things"

8 And now, go, write it before them on a tablet
and inscribe it in a book,
that it may be for the time to come
as a witness forever.
9 For they are a rebellious people,
lying children,
children unwilling to hear
the instruction of the Lord;
10 who say to the seers, “Do not see,”
and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us what is right;
speak to us smooth things,
prophesy illusions,
11 leave the way, turn aside from the path,
let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”
Isaiah 30:8-11 (ESV)

These verses were some of those that we looked at during our Bible Study tonight. For some reason they seemed so contemporary. While there were originally addressed to the people of Judah thousands of years ago, they still reflect an attitude that is all to common today.

So many people who go by the name of Christian say things that are so similar. They do not want to hear about what is right and wrong. They don't want to hear about repentance and faith. They certainly don't want to be reminded of sin or suffering or death. When they hear these things they say, "I have enough troubles, I don't need to hear this. Give me something positive and uplifting. Give me something that will make me feel good." The words may not be the same, but the attitude certainly is. And, when they are directed to the cross of Jesus each week, they don't even find that great, amazing, utterly wonderful grace of God uplifting either.

Oh how we have forgotten the three times holy God who, even when we were enemies deserving nothing but eternal destruction, sent his own Son to suffer the punishment for sin, so all who put their trust in him would be accepted, forgiven, adopted, made into God's beloved people, freed from the domination of sin, and joined to Christ. None of this because a person renovates their life, but all as a gift of the undeserved favor of God. And, in all of this God still remained perfectly just, and perfectly merciful.

How can it be that we have become so satisfied with the sawdust of the world, and are no longer hungry for the solid meat from God?