Finding God in the Mysteries of every day

Week 22 Day 1

Finding God in the Mysteries of every Day

larrymlawrence.com

Isaiah 1: ¹² “When you come to appear before Me,
Who has required this from your hand,
To trample My courts?
¹³ Bring no more futile^[f] sacrifices;
Incense is an abomination to Me.
The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies—
I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting.

            Have you ever been frustrated? Have you ever placed your hope in something or someone who has disappointed you? Have you ever watched as someone you love brings your love for them down to a series of meaningless interactions with little or no substance? If you have, then I think you might be able to understand the agony and sorrow of God’s heart as he looked out upon the one nation for whom he had made a vast exception in the world. He had chosen them. He had nurtured and redeemed them from a time of slavery. He had given them a structure of law and worship. He had given them a place to live and within that place a temple where they might even come into his presence. But, it seemed all was for naught.

            Striving to bring meaning and a sense of God’s presence into the worship times we share may seem a noble objective, but somehow the effort misses the mark. When the goal is merely a desire to see a particular set of responses or to experience a particular sensation we are missing the mark. Worship is about God, not man. Worship is the outlet for our need to acknowledge the power and presence of God in what hopefully is a sanctifying moment of heightened awareness. Waiting for an evangelist to “bring revival” is sort of like waiting for the pizza delivery driver to get it there in thirty minutes or less. If revival happens it is not the preacher. It comes when the Holy Spirit is welcomed and sought after with the whole heart. From there, it is just possible that God may begin to build a community of believers.