Key Verse: “What are all your sacrifices to me?” asks the Lord. “I have had enough of burnt offerings and rams and the fat of well-fed cattle; I have no desire for the blood of bulls, lambs, or male goats. When you come to appear before me, who requires this from you—this trampling of my courts? Stop bringing useless offerings. Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons and Sabbaths, and the calling of solemn assemblies—I cannot stand iniquity with a festival.” (Isaiah 1:11-13 CSB)
Everyone likes to receive a word from the Lord. Except when it’s not a good one. When God spoke to His people through the prophet Isaiah, He didn’t have a lot of good to say at first. What exactly was the problem? On the one hand, the people were engaged in their worship activities toward God. They were making sacrifices and burnt offerings to the Lord. They were calling out to Him in prayer on a regular basis, just as they had been instructed to do.
But as God looked down from heaven, He wasn’t accepting their worship. It wasn’t worth anything to Him. “What are all your sacrifices to me?” (v.11, He asked them. I have had enough of them. No more burnt offerings. No more incense. No more shedding the blood of bulls, lambs or goats. He had no desire for them. They were useless to Him (v.13).
Can you imagine God saying this to us? Stop the music at church. No more songs being led by the band. Quit passing the offering plate. No more prayers or laying on of hands. Just stop it. I’m not listening. I don’t want it. I cannot stand it any longer.
The problem in this case was that even though the people were faithfully engaging in their religious activities, God saw right past it all. When He looked at their hearts, the place that mattered the most to Him, He saw a people who had rebelled against Him. They were “weighed down with iniquity” and had abandoned, despised and turned their backs on the Holy One of Israel (v.4).
This was a similar indictment to what Jesus brought against the Pharisees and scribes in Jerusalem. They were consumed with religious adherence to their outward rules and traditions. But as Jesus looked upon them, all He saw was their hypocrisy. Quoting from the prophet Isaiah, Jesus said this about them, “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. They worship me in vain, teaching as doctrines human commands” (Mathew 15:7-8). Their worship was futile and fruitless. It profited nothing, because it did not flow from a heart that was fully devoted to Him.
As God looks down on us, what will He see? Will He find people busying themselves with spiritual or religious activity while our hearts are more consumed with other things? Will He listen to our prayers? Will He accept our worship?
King David wrote, “Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart” (Psalm 24:3-4). I don’t know about you, but I’m not going to make the cut on this one on my own. Who among us can claim to be clean and pure before God on their own merits?
The good news though is that through true faith in Jesus, we have been made pure and acceptable to God. When we turn from our sin and surrender ourselves fully to Jesus, He transforms our hearts by His Spirit and makes our worship pleasing and acceptable to Him. When our hearts are for the Lord, our feeble attempts to worship God become a sweet fragrance to Him. So let us seek the Lord today with fresh surrender. Let us turn away from our worldly desires and pursuits and delight ourselves in Him today.
Prayer: Father God, you alone are worthy of my worship both now and forever. I turn away from all other things and delight myself in you today. Thank you for making me pure and clean in your eyes through faith in your Son Jesus Christ. Transform my heart as I surrender to you. May my worship be pleasing to you. Amen.
Author: Jonathan Miller has served in pastoral roles for more than 13 years in churches in Barrie, Oakville and Burlington, Ontario. He currently serves as the Chief Operating Officer at Prison Fellowship Canada, a ministry that mobilizes and equips local churches to engage in the restorative work of prisoners, ex-prisoners, their families, and victims across Canada. Jon holds degrees from McMaster University and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He and his wife Adrienne have been married since 2004, and live in Burlington, Ontario with their 4 children. Jon’s greatest passion is to know Jesus and to see lives transformed by Him and for Him.
