Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.
In our reading from Isaiah 65, God presents himself as the one “ready to be sought” and “ready to be found” (Isaiah 65:1, ESV). God reveals himself to the whole world, not just to the people of Israel. There is good reason for this, since the people of Israeal are “a rebellious people” (Isaiah 65:2, ESV). God has established that the people called according to His name, the chosen ones, are rebellious. They depart from God’s statutes as fast as they can. Even though God has given them means to approach Him and find his forgiveness and grace, they insist on making up their own ways, which provoke God.
In the Scripture, God has given particular ways, times, and places when His Name is to be sought. Our attempts to improve on God’s Word lead only to God’s wrath. Like the people of Israel we find our world falling apart, even as we strive to create spiritual substitutes for God as revealed in Scripture. The ways He has provided of Christ’s satisfaction for our sins, of repentance and faith, of the life lived in God’s forgiveness, these all seem inadequate to us, so we try to improve them. This will only lead to trouble.
What is God’s response? It is the same as it was in Isaiah’s time. He is there, ready to be found by those who give up on their own striving. He has called to our nation, “Here am I” (Isaiah 65:1, ESV). May we have grace to hear the call.
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