Going the Good/Right Way

 Isaiah 1:1,10-20; Psalm 50:1-8, 22, 23

Isaiah in a vision sees, or should that be heard, the words of the Lord regarding Judah and Jerusalem. A lot of frustration mixed with anger is evident here. The Lord is sick of all the sacrifices they offer him along with the incense and other religious rigmarole since they only do the rituals, but they don’t live out the God centered life in their daily lives. God is weary of them, these acts with no daily lived out meaning and practice becoming a burden to God. They are worthless acts since God knows that their hands are full of blood and lives full of evil deeds. God begs them to wash themselves of sin making them clean. There is no justice, the oppressed go on being ignored and no one pleads for or takes up the cause of the orphan or widow.

God begs them to cease to do evil and learn to do good. This would include seeking justice, rescuing the oppressed and defending, taking up the cause of the widow and orphan. God gives them a chance to argue it all out – the CEB says to settle this. By doing what is good their sins will be washed away – their religious rituals meaningful. If they are willing and obedient to learning what is good, they shall eat the good of the land.

In Psalm 50 it talks about God judging God’s people. God does not rebuke them for their sacrifices but for them forgetting about God. The sacrifice of thanksgiving, acknowledging and thanking God for their being is what will honor God. These are the ones going the right way that God will show salvation.

I find that going the right way includes Isaiah’s ceasing to do evil and learning to do good. The right way is the good way of seeking justice for all, rescuing the oppressed and pleading the case for the orphan and widow. It is being obedient to God and God’s ways.

How many of us are what my former pastor called “Nod to God-ers.” Each Sunday we worship in song, say the creeds, even give offering but turn around the rest of the week living lives of evil deeds – forgetting God and the right/good way to live. Do we seek justice and rescue the oppressed – those poor and even ones living on the street. Do we plead for legislation that takes care of those neglected by society, at Biblical times the orphan and the widow. Do we demand rights and provision for those who find themselves in financial straits? Let us make our Sunday rituals worthy of sacrifices of thankfulness and let us continue to learn how to do good and to go the good/right way.

 

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