Sunday, March 14
In Isaiah 58:3 the people asked God: “Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? Wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge?”.
In contrast, Isaiah 59:1 implies another question, something like: “Why do we call for the Lord’s hand to save us, but He does not? Why do we cry to Him, but He does not hear?” Isaiah answers that God is able to save and hear (Isaiah 59:1). His failure to do either, however, is another matter entirely.
Read Isaiah 59:2. What message is being given here that answers the question in Isaiah 59:1?
God chooses to “ignore” His people, not because that is His desire but because “your iniquities have separated between you and your God” (Isaiah 59:2). Here is one of the clearest statements in the Bible regarding the effect of sin on the divine-human relationship. Isaiah spends the rest of chapter 59 elaborating on this point, which is seen all through human history: Sin can destroy our relationship with the Lord and thus lead to our eternal ruin—not because sin drives God away from us but that it drives us away from God.
Read Genesis 3:8. How does this example reveal the principle expressed in the above paragraph?
Sin is primarily a rejection of God, a turning away from Him. The sin act actually feeds upon itself in that not only is the act a turning away from God but the result of the act causes the sinner to turn away even more from the Lord. Sin separates us from God, not because God wouldn’t reach out to the sinner (indeed, the whole Bible is almost nothing but the account of God’s reaching out to save sinners) but because sin causes us to reject His divine overtures to us. That is why it is so important that we tolerate no sin in our lives.
In what ways have you experienced the reality that sin causes a separation from God? What, in your own experience, is the only solution to the problem?
