Far From Me

“The Lord said: Because these people approach Me with their mouths to honor Me with lip-service — yet their hearts are far from Me, and their worship consists of man-made rules learned by rote — therefore I will again confound these people with wonder after wonder. The wisdom of their wise men will vanish, and the understanding of the perceptive will be hidden. Woe to those who go to great lengths to hide their plans from the Lord. They do their works in darkness, and say, “Who sees us? Who knows us? ” You have turned things around, as if the potter were the same as the clay. How can what is made say about its maker, “He didn’t make me”? How can what is formed say about the one who formed it, “He doesn’t understand what he’s doing”?” (Isaiah 29:13-16 HCSB)

Key verse: “The Lord said: Because these people approach Me with their mouths to honor Me with lip-service — yet their hearts are far from Me, and their worship consists of man-made rules learned by rote —” (Isaiah 29:13 HCSB)

Are you happy with who, what and where you are in life? Do you ever stop and think about what life might have been? What it could be, if only…? In the first Harry Potter book and movie, Harry discovers a mirror in an unused classroom at Hogwarts School. In the mirror, Harry sees himself and his parents, parents who died when he was just a baby, standing lovingly around him. Professor Dumbledore finds Harry sitting in front of this mirror, the Mirror of Erised, starring longingly into it. When Harry asked the Professor about the mirror, Dumbledore told Harry that the mirror shows “the most desperate desire of a person’s heart.” Dumbledore cautions Harry about the mirror because “many men have wasted away in front of it.”

While the Mirror of Erised is but a part of JK Rowling’s fictional world, she does hint at a key to life’s purpose and fulfillment – the desperate desires of our hearts and how they drive us mad or drive us to pursue our goals. While you may not know or appreciate Rowling’s fiction, the idea behind this mirror is based in the truths of scripture: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:21 HCSB) Who or what do you see when you look in the mirror? Our focal passage this week, Isaiah 29, is all about who and what we see when we look into the divine mirror of God’s word. While I didn’t provide the text for the entire chapter above, I recommend you go read it here and then come back and rejoin us.

This chapter begins with that familiar refrain, “Woe to..” but then throws us a curveball – “Woe to Ariel, Ariel, the city where David camped!” While the word “Ariel” is used as a proper name, it isn’t clear what Isaiah means by it. Well, at least not in English and at first glance. It is found outside this passage only in Ezra 8:16 and refers to the proper name of a leader among those who had returned to Jerusalem from exile to help rebuild the city. Here it obviously is being used to reference Jerusalem, “the city where David camped!”

But to really understand Isaiah’s words, we need to dig a little deeper. While the word is used as a proper name, it refers to the “altar hearth” or the flat stone where sacrifices are placed, burned and consumed by God. This is clearly the intent, as seen in verse 2: “I will oppress Ariel (Jerusalem), and there will be mourning and crying, and she will be to Me like an Ariel (altar hearth).” Isaiah goes on to describe how Jerusalem will be besieged and brought down. At first, we might expect this to be God’s use of another political enemy, like Assyria, to be the instrument of God’s wrath against Jerusalem. But Isaiah clearly attributes this act of judgment directly to God, “I will camp in a circle around you; I will besiege you with earth ramps, and I will set up my siege towers against you. You will be brought down..”

Jerusalem’s enemies may come against her, but they are nothing more than fine dust or blowing chaff in comparison to what God is going to do (vs. 5-6). Isaiah goes on to say that all of the death and destruction that Jerusalem will endure from her enemies be nothing, they will seem like a dream in comparison to what God has planned. Her enemies plan to destroy Jerusalem, but God has a different plan. Their attempts at destroying the people of God will be like a man who dreams he has eaten a huge, sumptuous meal but awakes and is still hungry. Or like someone thirsty who dreams he is drinking but wakes to find himself still thirsty. Their efforts at erasing all evidence of God’s work and His word among mankind through His people will be pointless. God’s plan of redemption will NOT be thwarted and cannot be stopped.

God IS on the move… but pay attention to what follows.

“Stop and be astonished; blind yourselves and be blind!” These words harken back to chapter 6, “keep listening, but do not understand; keep looking but do not perceive. Make the minds of these people dull; deafen their ears and blind their eyes; otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears, understand with their minds, turn back, and be healed (Is. 6:9-10).” In the next few verses (9-12), God is not wanting these people to be blind to His presence and His work, He is not wanting them to be unable to hear His word or understand His actions but they simply refuse to see, refuse to hear, and refuse to perceive His power among them.

This is like a young child who sees God’s creation with a sense of awe and wonder. Each new discovery, each glimpse into the wonder of God’s creation elicits a squeal of amazement. Then as the child matures, as he learns a bit of science, math and logic then his sense of wonder at God seems to grow weaker, smaller until it all but disappears. They’ve been given “the words of a sealed document” but they are no longer capable of reading it – “I can’t read it, it is sealed.” Or it is given to another and he is asked to read it – “but he says, I can’t read.”

Some say, “if God would only show Himself, then I’d believe.” If He would only give me this one miracle, then I’d know He’s real and I’d believe in Him. God has shown Himself, and we still refuse to believe. We demand a sign, but the only sign that will be given is the sign of the prophet Jonah (see Matt. 12). Jesus gave us definitive proof of His authority, power and divine nature through the resurrection. But so many reject Him, His divine authority and try to explain away what is unexplainable, the empty tomb! They trip over the rock of offense and stumble at the idea of His divine authority. They’ve been given the Word of Truth, but they refuse to read it and fall in humble repentance and submission before it.

If you’re a part of that group, I pray that you will recognize yourself in that mirror. Instead of seeing life with God as the ultimate treasure and the deepest desire of your heart, you see only those things that the world tells you will satisfy your hunger, those selfish desires that are never satisfied. If you’ll look closer you’ll notice the thin veneer of shine is quickly and easily worn off. You’re like the guy, in verse 8, who is dreaming of eating a large, satisfying meal but who wakens to find that he’s still hungry. Your dream can’t give you what you seek, it can’t satisfy your hunger. Only God can do that.

“If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.” — C.S. Lewis

He doesn’t just speak against and condemn those who refuse to read, who refuse to hear and understand His word. God also condemns those who have heard, who do believe but give Him only “lip service.” They honor Him with their words, but their hearts are far, far from Him. In fact, only human rules and regulations direct their worship of Him (v. 13). They go through the motions, they say the right words, they sing the songs and even pray the prayers, but… but their hearts are devoid of love and are far, far from Him. This verse is actually quoted by Jesus and applied to the Pharisees of His day (Mark 7:6, Matt. 15:8).

We need to hear these words and heed Isaiah’s warning. God condemns heartless, empty worship that is just words from our mouths and rote observance of the human rules of worship. How often have we stood in a worship service and done this very thing? We go through the motions, but our heart isn’t in it. We’re physically present but we aren’t mentally or spiritually present. We recite the words but they have no connection to our hearts or souls. To be blunt honest, this is what it really means to take the LORD’s name in vain. It means to use the LORD’s name in ways that are empty or contrary to His character, His purpose, and His will.

But, it also goes a bit farther. The commandment could be literally translated as “carrying God’s name while being empty.” It means to take God’s name upon your life but without taking Him into your life. It is worship without meaning and without God’s presence. It is worshipping in a way that is contrary to God, His will and His Word. We sing “Amazing Grace” and then refuse to show our spouse any grace during an argument over Sunday lunch. We recite the Lord’s Prayer but refuse to forgive those who’ve hurt us. To recite the prayer and then fail to depend on the Father for what we need each day. It’s when we “amen” the pastor’s comment about God condemning sin, but we aren’t thinking of our own sin but somebody else’s sin. We think we’ve fooled God just by showing up and going through the motions, but He’s not fooled by that.

But there are those who don’t even try to fool God, but they do try to hide from Him. They sneak around and do their dirty deeds under the cover of darkness. Nobody knows, nobody sees. But they have forgotten the One who made them, the One who knows them, who formed them for His own purpose. Catch Isaiah’s words: “You have turned things around, as if the potter were the same as the clay. How can what is made say about its maker, “He didn’t make me”? How can what is formed say about the one who formed it, “He doesn’t understand what he’s doing”?” (Isaiah 29:16 CSB)

We treat God as if He’s like us, as if we can fully understand Him. But that’s not even reasonable. As Isaiah says, “How can what is formed say about the one who formed it, ‘He doesn’t understand what he’s doing?’” Scripture tells us that God made man in His own image and breathed life into him. Since then, man has been trying to make God in his image. We act as if He doesn’t know us, can’t understand us. Yet of all the creatures that God made, man is the only one He formed with His own hands, in His own image and breathed life into him.

But Isaiah tells us that God is going to turn things around, even upside down. He’s going to cause the deaf to hear and the blind to see. The humble will have joy after joy in the LORD, and the poor will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. But when, oh God? When will these things happen? When God sets things right, when His justice prevails and He rids our world of the evil that corrupts it. The last few verses of this chapter highlight the fact that God will keep His covenant promises to Abraham. When Jacob sees his children, the work of God’s hands within his nation, they will not take His name in vain. No! They will honor MY name, they will honor the Holy One of Jacob and stand in awe of the God of Israel.

““Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, drive out demons in your name, and do many miracles in your name?’ Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you lawbreakers!’” (Matthew 7:21-23 CSB)

Will you pay God lip service or life service? If you only give God lip service, then expect to hear these words: “I never knew you. Depart from me, you lawbreakers!” But if you’re willing to give Him your life, then expect to hear these words: “Well done, good and faithful servant! Come and share your Master’s joy!”