Today's Scripture Reading (October 18, 2023): Isaiah 57
It happened at church when I was a
young teen. One Sunday morning, I was making my way through the crowded foyer,
which was located at the midpoint of the church in front of the church offices,
with the dreaded hiccups. I was busy hiding my predicament when a woman approached
me with a message. I can still remember her words. They were accusatory in a
way that I had never experienced before. “I know what you’ve done.”
I admit that I was shocked, and
immediately, my mind started to race toward what it might be that she could
know. As I said, I was a young teen, and I didn’t have many significant
secrets. But I had secrets that were significant to me. And I stood in shock as
my tormentor repeated her accusation. “I know what you’ve done.” It was news to
me because she apparently knew I had committed a significant sin, one of which
I had no knowledge.
“You don’t believe me, do you?” my
accuser said as she looked at me. “I am telling you that I know all about you.”
Did God converse with this woman who
had confronted me in front of the church's offices as I approached the
sanctuary for the morning worship time? Finally, after what seemed like a long
period of accusation, I found my voice. “What do you know?” And while we are at
it, couldn’t we have had this conversation in a place that was a little more
private?
My accuser replied, “I know!” But I
still didn’t know what it might be that she thought that she knew. Finally, she
smiled and said, “Your hiccups are gone.” The whole discussion had been an
elaborate way of scaring the hiccups out of me. And it worked.
God is telling his readers the same
thing. I know what you are doing. I know what is going on behind closed doors.
I know what it is that you really believe and not just what it is you say you
believe. I see your righteousness, but what is more, I know the reason for your
righteousness, and your motives are not pure. And all of this I am going to
expose. You think that the good you have done will put you in a good place, but
I am telling you that you will not benefit from what you have done because you
have done it for the wrong reasons. All of your good actions will fade because
it was not done to pursue a deeper relationship with God.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Isaiah
58
No comments:
Post a Comment