behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save,
or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;
but your iniquities have made a separation
between you and your God,
and your sins have hidden his face from you
so that he does not hear. [isaiah 59:1-2]
this is an old covenant truth that provides us the opportunity to step back and examine our own lives and give thanks for Jesus.
examine:
take a second and remember a time when you felt distant from the Lord even though you were a believer. a time when you were so caught up in the storm of life that you didn’t know what you were doing, where you were going, and felt like your prayers were bouncing off of the ceiling. maybe that’s you right now. we know that God never changes, so the feeling of distance must be on our end. this passage provides 2 truths:
– that God is powerful enough to save anyone at any time
– that sin separates us from God
because of the finished work of Jesus, we who confess that he is Lord cannot be eternally separated from God. however, our sin can functionally separate us from God in the here and now. the idolatry of comfort, a great career, pornography, pride, gossip, lust, etc. all focus us on the things of the world and away from God. none of these things will ever fulfill us, yet so often we just keep chasing. before we know it, we’re lost in the storm and separated from God.
luke 6:45 ends with this, “for out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.”
james 2:26 says this, “for as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.”
if we say we are people of faith, that is, people who follow Jesus, our lives should line up with that to the best of our ability. not because it earns us anything, but out of thanksgiving and honor of our salvation.
give thanks:
before the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, the law determined a person’s standing before God. the people of isaiah’s time broke the law repeatedly. unfortunately, you and i do, too. instead of having to make a sacrifice to earn our way back to right standing with God, Jesus purchased our righteousness once and for all.
so today, may we celebrate that Jesus has purchased our lives and live lives that make much of him.
amen.