SIGNS OF A REBELLIOUS NATION – (PART 4 – GOD’S FAVOR IS LOST)

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood!

Isaiah 1:15

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Can there be anything worse in life than turning to God and have Him turn from you?

I can’t think of any.

Today, we’ll conclude our series on the signs of a rebellious nation by looking at how God can and will choose to turn away from any nation who chooses to reject and insult Him through choosing sin and wickedness over righteousness.

Now we have already covered the problem with Israel, the primary nation of focus in Isaiah, Chapter 1. The chosen people of God led into a land chosen by God, delivered and protected by Him every step of the way, had time and time again made the conscious choice to blatantly disregard God and violate His commandments and will. As we covered in discussing the Old Testament cycle, the people would opt for sin and transgression, be warned by God to cease it or face consequences, choose to ignore God’s demand to stop, suffer the consequences God promised, and then cry out to God in the midst of those consequences for relief and release from their penalties. God would hear their pleas and out of His deep love and mercy and grace, pardon the Israelites and return them to His favor only to see them fall right into the same cycle again.

We get a real sense at the start of Isaiah that God has had enough with Israel and their endless procession of conscientious failing, subsequent falling, and as we observed yesterday, insincere worship.

How do we know this?

Look again at today’s verse and see that God is obviously not happy.

When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood! (v15)

Basically, God was shutting out the people of Israel. In the midst of His judgment, when they would spread out their hands in prayer, seeking Him to listen and help them, He would not be able to be found. The people would long for His rescue but to be rescued, you need to be able to locate your rescuer. When God was around, the people chose to worship other gods and embrace sin more than holiness. They never sought Him then but now, after finding themselves in trouble under the His judgment, the people quickly decided that they needed Him.

Friends, our God, the same God of the Israelites, is not a fast food God. You don’t just pull into the drive through when you need a little God, get a taste of Him, then go on with life without Him. That’s not the way it works. God requires our full attention, every second of every minute of every hour of every day, just as He gives us. To be in His full favor, we need to give Him our full honor and respect and devotion. He deserves nothing short of that.

Any nation who rebels against God, bringing insincere worship, will face His judgment and when that judgment comes, God can and will choose to remove His favor from that nation, turning away from them and refusing to listen to their calls for help.

There is no worse place for any nation to be, there is no worse place for any one person to be, than out of the favor of the Lord God Almighty. All nations and all people should do everything in their power to never be in that place and they can take the first step by never rebelling against the God who is their Maker, Creator, and Master.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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