Woo-hooo, Greg and I, along with our friends, Robert and Cindy, are headed off for a few days R&R. The boys are hunting Rio Grande turkeys in Texas, while Cindy and I are hunting the malls, Starbucks and lots of good food. We are all looking forward to a few days of friends and fun. Here is a picture of our men (Greg is on the left and Robert is on the right) with the turkeys they got yesterday here in the North GA mountains. They are so excited about hunting Texas Rio Grandes.
In my personal study time, I spent some moments in the sixth chapter of Isaiah looking at the exalted view of God that Isaiah received in his vision of the throne room where God dwells. As I thought about a word that I might choose to describe God, I decided my word would be ‘holiness’. Holiness implies a setting apart, a different-ness, a majesty that commands respect and awe.
With that thought on my heart, I then went to the Psalm that I am meditating on this week, Psalm 51. This is a wonderful psalm that gives us a look into the heart of King David as he voices his repentance to God after committing adultery with Bathsheba and killing Uriah. The Holy Spirit settled my focus on verses 16 and 17 which say:
“For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and contrite heart—These, O God, You will not despise.”
I hope what I am about to say makes sense to you. Sometimes things rumble around in my tiny little mind that make sense to me but I’m not sure they do to others. Here goes!
As I thought about how our holy God instituted the Old Testament system of sacrifices that were designed to provide limited atonement for the sins of the Israelites, I was struck by the fact that the very system He instituted was purposely inadequate to bring true reconciliation between a holy God and His sinful creation. Thousands and thousands of animals were sacrificed to assuage the guilt and atone for the sins of millions of people, yet none of that was enough.
My guess is that many, many Israelites brought their sacrifices to the altar only out of duty, completely devoid of the right heart attitude. It is beyond me how any Israelite could carry a young lamb or goat in their arms, secure it on the altar, lay one of their hands on it’s head and use the other hand to slaughter it (see Leviticus 1: 1-5) without feeling remorse or guilt over their sin that required that animal’s life. Yet, how often do we sin and not feel guilt over the blood of Jesus that was shed to cover our sin?
David recognized as he confessed and repented of his sin that God’s interest did not lie in the sacrifice of an animal, despite the fact that He had instituted the system Himself. What David understood is that our holy God desires, above all else, for our hearts to be in the appropriate position. We must come before Him with hearts that are broken over our sin in order for our sacrifices to be acceptable. How often have you seen a little child or a teen mumble an apology for some misdeed? They are sorry they got caught because of the consequences they will bear for their action. They are not sorry that they were disobedient and broke the heart of their parent.
Does your heart truly understand the holiness of God and how your sin separates you from Him? Even the sinless seraphim of Isaiah 6 dared not look at God because of His holiness. With one glimpse of the throne of God, the prophet Isaiah’s view of God and attitude about his own sin were changed.
How dare we come before Him without reverence and awe! Because of His holiness, God has every right to destroy us when we sin, yet because of His mercy and grace, He does not. We cannot begin to imagine the awesomeness and holiness of God. He is far greater and more majestic that anything we can conceive. But did you know that what truly moves our holy God’s heart of compassion is when our hearts are broken because we broke His heart? When we come before Him with the proper attitude of humility, repentance and respect, His heart is tendered toward us, just as the heart of an earthly parent would be toward her child. Yes, He is holy, but He is also our Father, our Abba, our Daddy.
BIG P.S.: I think the Lord is trying to tell me something!!! I finished posting this issue of The Point, clicked over to my email and my daily edition of Insight for Living from Chuck Swindoll came into my inbox. I can’t get the link to work directly to today’s devotional but when you go to the main page, go to INSIGHT FOR TODAY and find the devotional for March 27th. Check it out and see if the Lord is not speaking to us about His HOLINESS!!
