“Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved!”
Psalms 80:4 O LORD God of hosts, how long will you be angry with your people’s prayers? You have fed them with the bread of tears and given them tears to drink in full measure.
Isaiah 58:2 Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God. ‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’ Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers.
Isaiah 58:6 “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
There is a way that seems right to man but in the end it is only self seeking and is far from God. A heart and mind that is complacent and neglects the word of God will soon find themselves far from God and not knowing it. They become blind and deaf to the leading of the Holy Spirit and become influenced by their culture and own sinful desires. Complacency and neglect the size of a grain of sand soon becomes a mountain with a very slippery slope away from God. We need to be mindful of this and take firm stance with commitment to remain in His word. Our purpose on this world it to humbly serve, honor, follow and obey God. Following Christ and being born again is not the end game. It is the beginning with eternal consequences. Neglecting His word leaves us open to manifest our own sinful desires and become blind to that which is our purpose. Stay in His word, desire His leading, and commit to humbly serving Him on paths that honor and glorify Him.
