Justice turned into poison
The Lord God has sworn by himself
(says the Lord, the God of hosts):
I abhor the pride of Jacob
and hate his strongholds;
and I will deliver up the city and all that is in it.
If ten people remain in one house, they shall die. And if a relative, one who burns the dead, shall take up the body to bring it out of the house, and shall say to someone in the innermost parts of the house, "Is anyone else with you?" the answer will come, "No." Then the relative shall say, "Hush! We must not mention the name of the Lord."
See, the Lord commands,
and the great house shall be shattered to bits,
and the little house to pieces.
Do horses run on rocks?
Does one plow the sea with oxen?
But you have turned justice into poison
and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood--
you who rejoice in Lo-debar,
who say, "Have we not by our own strength
taken Karnaim for ourselves?"
Indeed, I am raising up against you a nation,
O house of Israel, says the Lord, the God of hosts,
and they shall oppress you from Lebo-hamath
to the Wadi Arabah.
DEVOTION
This passage disturbs me, as I imagine it disturbs you. It is painful to imagine God's justice being meted out against humanity. We know that we are sinful; but we also want to imagine that there is no penalty for that sin.
In today's scripture, God says there is penalty for sin for God has grown weary of human pride and strongholds, injustice, and unrighteousness.
God wants us to depend only on God. God wants us to know that it is in God that we "live and move and have our being (Acts 17)." God wants us to affirm that it is God alone who is our refuge, fortress, deliverer, and protector. It is God who rescues and honors us in trouble and grants us long life (Ps 91).
When we glorify ourselves, we snub God. When we fail to acknowledge the true source of our blessings, we elevate ourselves to the place of deity.
This is idol worship because it is worship of self and worship of our own accomplishments.
Today, we are invited to look to God who is the source of all of our blessings! We are invited to thank God for the gift of Jesus Christ, who paid the penalty for our sin, dying on the cross, and then rising again on the third day to make atonement for our sin and gift us with eternal life!
There is always a penalty for sin. This side of the cross we know that Jesus was gracious enough to take our sin upon himself. This is why we must not glorify ourselves, living in pride and arrogance, and ignoring the sacrifice of God's only begotten son.
Instead, we are called to worship and bow down with great joy and exaltation, praising and thanking God for loving us so much--that Jesus gave all!
Let us pray: Oh God, please forgive me for bowing down before an idol in my own image. Please forgive me for being prideful and arrogant, unjust and unrighteous. Please help me to remember Jesus' sacrifice upon the cross. Please forgive all of my sin and fill me with the Holy Spirit that I might ever worship and praise you, sharing the good news that you have chosen to make restitution for our sin and gift us with eternal life! I pray all of this in Jesus' Name, Amen.
INVITATION
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