Isaiah 1:15-17 Psalm 50:14-15 Isaiah 1:18-20
Tuesday morning in St. Joseph, Missouri. Up at 5:30 and off to the chow hall. Two pieces of toast, powdered eggs, and farina. Farina is kind of like oatmeal. It says right on the bag not for human consumption, but it tastes real good with lots of butter. Back at the cell the door closes again and suddenly I feel like a goldfish in a little bowl. One like you used to see at the fair. You know the one where we used to throw ping pong balls into to win the goldfish. I can take 3 normal steps in my cell before I have to turn around and head the other direction. And to make matters worse, I'm dressed in orange. If I pucker up just right, I feel just like a goldfish! Take a minute and get a visual..lol...what's my point? Just thought that was funny cause every goldfish I ever had got flushed down the toilet...Hunter, Faith, Mia - have you ever thought that God looked down on earth and all His children like you would look down on a goldfish in a bowl? Like that's how He see's the world? Well, I have and I'm pretty sure that when God looks down on us swimming around in circles on earth He see's our actions and what we do. All of it! Good and bad!
I've chosen Isaiah 1 for the base of this lesson and hope you read the whole chapter. I've had enough of burnt offerings! (v. 11). Does God want us to burn bulls and kill goats? Nope. What He wants is for us to "offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving and to perform our vows to the most high, and to call upon Him in the day of trouble" (Psalms 50:14-15). It says "He will deliver us and we shall glorify Him" when we do that. In the old days people who made mistakes and sinned against God used to sacrifice animals to cover their sins, but that's not really what God wants today. He wants for us to "offer Him a sacrifice of thanksgiving." To me that means live right, seek Jesus, read, pray, turn from sin, and surround ourselves with people doing the same. Our sacrifice is to "live right"; Jesus handled the rest for us by giving His life for us on the cross. So that takes me to Isaiah 1:15-17 "...when you spread out your hands I will hide my eyes from you...remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes..." and Isaiah 1:18-20 "...if you are willing and obedient you shall eat the good of the land..."(not something that says not for human consumption). In verse 20 he says "but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword" (that being the toilet for the goldfish)..."for the mouth of the Lord has spoken."
Never fear, we won't get flushed down the toilet. But what I want you to realize is God sees how we live our lives every day and He knows our hearts. Just like the goldfish, we can't hide from God. It says if we are evil and "bad goldfish" He won't listen to our prayers and cries for help. That before He will listen to our pleas in life we need to be living right or trying. What does that mean? "Offering to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving" by "doing the right thing always". He promises in Psalms that if we do that He will listen and deliver us from being in pain or "flushed".
I've chosen this story because I want you guys to know that for many years of my life I chose to do things my way, to do what I wanted, and never gave much mind to what God wanted. While living for me and my desires, I've cast up many prayers. There is no telling how many God paid no attention to because I was not doing much for Him. I believe that God also gets tired of doing for people who only think of themselves and while He hears some of our cries and answers if we continue to do wrong and make no effort to change the way we swim around in our little fish bowl that sooner or later He gets tired of watching us and just lets us do our thing, which ultimately leads to...you guessed it...the "Big Flush".
Prayer: Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right Spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore me to the joy of your salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit. And Father God, your will be done! I pray that none of us ever have to experience the "Big Flush". Love you man! Amen
Random thought: Sometimes in life, because we are human, we get tired of helping people and trying to love them. It's hard to show a perfect love, but we serve a God who is stronger than the things we struggle with, and He wants to love us and stop the brokenness in our lives that separates us from our loved ones and separates us from Him. I hope that God can teach me and all of us to learn how to receive His love in a way that enables us to show it to others, especially the ones who we are closest to and sometimes are the hardest to love.
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