Daily Devotions
“For when I called, no one answered, when I spoke, no one listened.” Isaiah 66:4
Yesterday we heard about God’s great care for us: “Before they call I will answer.” In the very next chapter of Isaiah, from which today’s text comes, we learn of how people despise the love of God: “When I called, no one answered, when I spoke, no one listened.”
God details the disobedience of His people. Their sacrifices do not come from the heart but only display an external obedience. They choose to go their own way and delight in abominations. They do evil and choose what displeases God. In these ways they refused to answer when God called to them and failed to listen when He spoke His Word.
How tragic that we often fail to listen and refuse to answer the God who calls us with His love! Like Israel we sometimes go through the motions of worship while inwardly pursuing our own selfish agenda. But God’s Word has a way of hitting us like a hammer, and He calls us again to repentance and faith in His Son, the Crucified One. Then by His grace we rewrite the verse of our text: “When I called, they answered in faith, when I spoke, they listened with thanksgiving.”
PRAYER: O Lord God, help me to listen when You call me to repentance and faith with Your offer of love and forgiveness. Amen.
(Devotions from “My Daily Devotion” by Dr. Stephen J. Carter, copyright 1988 CPH. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be printed, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of Concordia Publishing House. Permission is granted for one-time emailing of this link to a friend. For ordering information, please contact CPH at 800-325-3040 or visit www.cph.org.)