I decided to start reading in Isaiah. This is only because I felt led
to do so. I had no particular reason other than I believed this is
where God wanted me to read today. What I found, just in the first
chapter, was a beautiful prophecy depicting God's heart for His chosen
people.
Throughout the passage, we see God's wrath and
His righteous judgement. Which is, as we often like to forget, part of
God's character, part of His heart. But as I read on and approached the
end of the chapter, a few verses stuck out to me, verses 16 through 18.
God says,
"Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek
justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless,
plead the case of the widow. 'Come now, let us reason together,' says
the Lord. 'Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as
snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.'"
How
beautiful that God, in the midst of rebuking His people for their sin,
would remind them of His forgiveness. He even tells them, yet again,
what He expects of them. He offers to reason with them. This is
crazy to me. What a loving God we have, that He would discipline His
children, remind them of what is right and what they should be doing,
reason with them, and offer His forgiveness. How humbling to be in the
presence of such a God.
