“With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
Isn't it easier to pay a fine than to change?
When you give a person a "price" for their sin they just look at it as the price tag. The amount that they need to collect to pay for what they desired. Want to cheat on your spouse? Well that is only a couple hundred given to the church and an I'm sorry. What to lie, covet, rage, hate? Throw up a few prayers and maybe a tithe and you can get right back to sinning.
God accepts none of that. Everything you could throw at your sins might as well be rotted filth. He only takes one thing. Do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with Him. How is that one thing?
They all mean the same thing ... Follow the LORD with all that you are.
So if you are in sin: Stop, Turn, and Follow God.
As You Walk By The Way ... Nahum 1-3, Habakkuk 1-3
Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls.
Yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer's; he makes me tread on my high places.
I find it hard at times to rejoice when I'm getting stronger. To be able to run farther than before you need to ... run farther than before. To be able to lift more weight you need to ... lift more weight. It is hard and tiring. But, to become stronger physically you need to work harder physically. And not everyone rejoices as they work hard.
But, it is a blessing of God's to be able to work hard. It is actually a blessing to live in hard times. Hard emotionally, spiritually, and physically.
So like when you keep your eyes focused down the road on the next mile you have to run. You can endure the places where you feet are striking the road.
Likewise, keep your eyes focused on the LORD. On your eternal salvation. Know that the road you are on is only there to make you the person God has designed you to be ... at the finish.
Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity. Take with you words and return to the Lord; say to him, “Take away all iniquity; accept what is good, and we will pay with bulls the vows of our lips.
Return. O please return to the LORD.
It is never to late. No matter how far we have fallen He still waits our return. And as we return our words can not be alone. Just an "I'm sorry" doesn't cut it alone.
We must let Him take our sins. We must accept the judgment and punishment He places upon us for our good. We must DO and ACT as we say that we will. Words without action are just makeup on a corpse. Rather come back to life and act on your faith.
“Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.
Hypokrisis. In greek theater the actors (hypokrisis) all wore masks. The hypocrite played a part that you could recognize from the mask and costumes.
As you go about your daily walk do you wear a mask? Do you wear garments of fasting and weeping that everyone can recognize?
Or ...
Did you rend your heart and not your clothes?
It isn't the face you show the world. It is the heart you show the LORD.
“Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”
We return, repent, and rend our hearts because Christ alone is our Savior. Upon Him was the judgment of our sins. There is joy in the knowledge of Christ. There will be no more weeping when with Him we will rest.
So ... weep no more. Take joy in suffering with Christ. Take joy in a creation that cries out to praise our Savior. Take joy in salvation.
