ESOCS Devotional 8 February 2024 – The Separating Agent
MEMORY VERSE: “But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.” Isaiah 59:2
TEXT: ISAIAH 59:1-8
Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:
2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
3 For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness.
4 None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.
5 They hatch cockatrice’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web: he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper.
6 Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands.
7 Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths.
8 The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace.
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The problem isn’t with God’s power, His knowledge, or His interest. The problem is with our iniquities. Sin has separated you from your God (Ps. 66:18; Prov. 28:9). Separation from God is the inevitable consequence of sin. In garden of Eden, God said, “Adam where art thou?” Not the call of an arresting officer but the cry of a heart broken Father. When God laid on Jesus Christ “the iniquities of us all” He cried, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken Me?”
This is not difficult to grasp. If God would continue to answer my prayers while I deliberately walk in sin, He would be condoning my sin. It’s important we take this very seriously. God cannot look upon sin, that is, “He will not hear.”
Many of the things we have asked for, God desires to give to us. God wants to save you. God delights to answer your prayers. Isaiah 55:7 says, “Let the wicked leave (behind) his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him return to the LORD, And He will have compassion (mercy) on him, And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon” (AMP).
The sins of the flesh sowed in society cause that society to crumble. The prophet Isaiah exposed the sins of the Israelites. Their hands were defiled with blood from the murders they had committed (v. 3). Their lips were speaking lies and their tongues muttered perversion. Their courts were corrupt and perverted justice (v. 4). There was no one calling for justice. No one called for the end of sin. They were guilty of planning evil and violence. They committed their evil deeds with enthusiasm (v. 7). Their thoughts were consumed with thoughts of iniquity.
What you condole today has a capacity to condemn you tomorrow. Hence, Apostle Peter urged the people of Samaria: “Repent, therefore, of your wickedness, and pray to the Lord. Perhaps He will forgive you for the intent of your heart” (Acts 8:22). For the LORD will have compassion on Jacob; once again He will choose Israel and settle them in their own land. The foreigner will join them and unite with the house of Jacob, as the Bible says.
- True repentance and not going back to sin is the hallmark of Christian life and living. You should make it your lifestyle.
- Father, grant me the grace to stay away from sin and the pleasures of this world.
Further Reading: Micah 4:1-7; Matthew 13:24-33; 1 John 4:1-end
ESOCS Devotional 8 February 2024
