In Isaiah 1:1-3 God accused the people of Judah of their ingratitude. As if in a court scene, the prosecutor Isaiah summoned heaven and earth to listen to what God had to say about Judah and Jerusalem. God honored them by becoming a Father to them. He personally took care of them and raised them up. Yet they chose to show ingratitude and spurn that privilege. They took the relationship with a careless attitude and did not bother to understand the heart of God nor would they take time to build it. God expects us to cherish our relationship with Him by living a life of gratitude. When we fail to reciprocate God’s love, even animals would look smarter than us. Why? At the least, they know how to appreciate their master. A careless couldn’t-be-bothered attitude toward God is a symptom of rebelliousness. That hurts the heart of God.
By a
couldn’t-be-bothered lifestyle, the people of God had totally missed out on the
purpose of their relationship with Him. They live a life loaded with guilt and
failure. Simply put, a degenerate life.
The prophet was not scolding them. The word “Ah” suggests that he was lamenting
their failure to see their own condition. They had abandoned God, despised the
Holy One of Israel, and even turned away from Him. They chose a life of
waywardness rather than one that walked closely with God.
For us today, how do
we abandon the Lord and despise Him? Bear in mind that It is God’s desire for
us to have a vibrant relationship with Him. God has initiated the move to make
us His children and He wants us to truly value Him and appreciate Him for who
He is in our lives. He expects us to prize Him above all else. But when as
the people of Judah we do not treat the Lord with honor and fail to give Him the
priority He deserves, we would have deemed to have abandoned Him. When we treasure
other things in life more than God, we would have devalued Him. When other things
in life become the object of our love, we would have put God in a place of
lesser importance. Jesus said that the first thing God requires of us is to
love Him with our whole heart and mind and soul and strength. Making Him first
in our lives means we consider Him in all that we do in life. When we do so, we
lessen the risk of acting and living in ways that will dishonor Him. Let’s make
God the top priority of life!
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