The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men. Therefore once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder; the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish.” Woe to those who go to great depths to hide their plans from the Lord, who do their work in darkness and think, “Who sees us? Who will know?” You turn things upside down, as if the Potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, “He did not make me”? Can the pot say of the Potter, “He knows nothing”?
We see that the attitude of our hearts towards God is infinitely more important than our words. When it comes to God, talk is cheap, but heart honesty, submission and obedience are vital. When God says that wisdom and intelligence will vanish, He is speaking quite specifically to our generation, as well as speaking a warning to all generations. Those who devise clever ways to “hide their plans from the Lord” are singled out for woeful punishment not only for their evil plans and deeds done in darkness, but for believing in their hearts that any plans or deeds are able to be hidden from the One Who hears and sees all things, and especially the attitude of the heart. He calls this attitude “upside down,” because our understanding is so darkened that we believe our Creator is like us. Just like the clay that we are made from, without God’s Holy Spirit within us, we have no senses capable of recognizing our Creator for Who He is. The comparison of a created pot, which is incapable of reason, saying to the Potter that He did not make it and that He knows nothing is comparable to the preposterous human notion that God has not made us and does not see our plans and deeds. By denying their Creator, not only are humans who use this faulty logic inevitably faced with their own inability to rise above the level of mere humanity, but they deny the Spirit of God who is willing to indwell and grant wisdom to His creatures and communicate with them. The human heart is a complex creation which does its best work when exercised. So too is the attitude of the heart which, when exercised often in seeking after its Creator, is better able to communicate, fellowship, enjoy and live abundantly within God’s created universe. God has told us that he is actively seeking those whose hearts are turned towards Him. Earlier in chapter 29, Isaiah tells God’s people that even after they have been destroyed by their enemies that their dust is crying out to Him from the ground, and that He hears them. We know from Psalm 139 that no matter what our circumstances or location, that God is there with us and is helping us. Why do we wait for a problem to develop before seeking to communicate with our Creator? Some of us have a lone ranger attitude which tells us that we can do this on our own, while others question whether there is a God Who cares or is even listening to us. Still others struggle with sorrow, anger and depression, which affect our perceptions and heart attitude. Before you were formed in the womb, God knew you, and after you have returned to the dust, God will still know you and hear you. When will we realize that our Creator is also with us in the here and now? Should it take a foxhole experience before we begin to seek after God? Must a calamity occur in order for us to recognize our need for a Savior? Before our consciousness of being human occurs, God watches over us, and after our physical death occurs God is still caring for us, so why in these all-too brief years of our earthly existence do we fail to trust Him with our care? God longs to fellowship with us like He did with Adam and Eve in the garden before the fall, and is always watching for us like an anxious Father waiting for our return, and running to meet us while we are still far off. Have we said with the prodigal, “I will arise and go to my Father?” Tell Him that you want to come home and live with Him, and tell Him that you are willing to be a servant in His house if He will only accept you. As we are enabled to become Christians through the power of the Holy Spirit, and as strength is given to us on a daily basis to grow in faith, we are expected to “pray without ceasing.” Psalm 19:14 says, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.” This is the most beneficial part of life’s difficulties—that we are more likely to have an attitude of prayer and a proper heart attitude during our times of trouble. In addition to our regular prayer time, let’s include God in our daily activities, in our problems, in our successes and in our failures. Would you like to impress God? There is nothing which impresses God more than a growing and vibrant faith. Ask the Holy Spirit to increase your faith!
Mark Overt Skilbred
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