So full of ourselves (Isa 1-6)

Hope you got through your Friday reading.  I know that Friday's readings are going to be the longest of the week.  But, it's interesting reading, and we can learn a lot from it.

Chapters 2-5 talk about Israel's sins.  And there's a long list.  But one thing that stuck out at me was how much God got after them for being all about themselves.  There was no justice, the women were being unfair to each other, etc.  All this seemed to be rooted in the fact that the Israelites were full of themselves.  It reminds me of the end of Judges where it says, "In those days there wasn't a king, everyone did what they thought was right in their own eyes." 

What strikes me as funny is that now there was a king, and the Israelites were no better.  Everyone is still full of themselves, doing what is right in their own eyes.  When there isn't leadership, people do what they want.  When there is leadership, people rebel and do what they want anyway.  What do we do?

The first cue from scripture is to encounter God for ourselves.  When Isaiah encountered God, he was changed.  He became aware of his sins and was cleansed.  Understand this, when Isaiah truly encountered God, he didn't start passing his sins on to others.  He didn't try to boast about himself.  He was humbled and confessed to God, "Whoa to me...for I have unclean lips". 

Isaiah's encounter may seem so far out it is impossible for us to find God.  And while we may not see God in His full glory as Isaiah did, we can certainly encounter God for ourselves.  Jeremiah 29:13 promises that we will find God if we seek God with all of our heart. 

The second cue from scripture is in Isaiah 1.  God says, "Come let us reason together, though your sins be as scarlet, they will be as white as snow."  I John tells us that if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive.  But if we say that if we have no sin, the truth is not in us.  Basically, if we are so full of ourselves that we think we're in the right all the time, we may want to reexamine ourselves.  Otherwise, we fall into the same trap the Israelites did.