Saturday after the Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on October 15, 2022 by under
Scripture: Isaiah 1:10-17 (NKJV)
1:10 Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom; Give ear to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah:
11 “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?” Says the Lord. “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed cattle. I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs or goats.
12 “When you come to appear before Me, who has required this from your hand, to trample My courts?
13 Bring no more futile sacrifices; Incense is an abomination to Me. The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies—I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting.
14 Your New Moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; They are a trouble to Me, I am weary of bearing them.
15 When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; Even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood.
16 “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil,
17 “learn to do good; Seek justice, rebuke the oppressor; Defend the fatherless, plead for the widow.”
Devotion
“’To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?’ says the LORD. ‘I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed cattle. I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs or goats.’”
To continue on in one’s sinful ways and then simply go through the motions of offering the prescribed sacrifices is empty and worthless religion, God says. The same is true for us today. To sing the hymns and liturgy with only our voices, to say the words of confession with only our lips, to hear only with our ears the Scripture readings, and to partake only with our mouth of the Lord’s Supper will do us no good. If we do not heed the words and message God speaks to us, repent of our sins, and look to Christ and His cross in faith for mercy and forgiveness, we miss the purpose of these profound gifts.
God desires that our religion not just be going through the outward motions, but truly listening to the warnings and promises of God’s Word. He wants us to partake of Christ’s Body and Blood, given and shed for us, with faith in His Word. He wants us to sing the hymns and liturgy with a heart that looks to Christ and His cross for pardon, peace, and life eternal.
Prayer: Lord, we beseech Thee, grant Thy people grace, to withstand the temptations of the devil, and with pure hearts and minds to follow Thee, the only God; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee, and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
