There are two passages assigned for today!

SCRIPTURE: Isaiah 1
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
“Come now, let us reason together,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land; but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.” For the mouth of the Lord has spoken. [Isaiah 1:18-20]
According to Isaiah, God is extremely frustrated and angry with the hollow hearts of His people; they pretend to follow Him, going through the religious motions, but their hearts are far from Him.
They ask for mercy, then proceed to show no mercy to others; they celebrate God’s love, then act hatefully to others.
And yet God is still prepared to show mercy, if they repent (admit, come clean before God).
If you are willing and obedient… I will forgive your crimes and make you clean, whole, pure, white as snow; if you are willing…

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. [Matthew 23:37]
Jesus affirms the heart of God, in fact He is the heart of God come to us in mercy, pleading with humanity to get straight with God.
Jesus enters the hornets nest, risking getting stung, because He loves them; He longs to forgive them, to show mercy to them, to restore them… but they were not willing.
Content to go through the religious motions, their hearts remain closed to God, and they still take pleasure in living selfishly, in ways that hurt others… all the while enjoying God’s “forgiveness”.

We can adjust Isaiah’s words to apply to our own hollow worship and religion.
I have no pleasure in worship services or repeated choruses or big donations. [Isaiah 1:11]
Stop bringing meaningless worship and offerings! [Isaiah 1:13]
Your hands are full of blood; wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. [Isaiah 1:15-17]
Jesus made it clear what God’s priorities are [Matthew 25:31-46], they are the same ones that Isaiah spoke about; this is what true religion is all about.
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. [James 1:27]

If we are willing and obedient, we can enjoy His mercy and share it with others.
But if we are not willing, if we prefer to live selfishly, then God has no choice but to purge us through fire, to allow us to experience the consequences of our unwillingness.
I will turn my hand against you; I will thoroughly purge away your dross and remove all your impurities. [Isaiah 1:25]
God’s will is justice, truth, mercy, compassion, selflessness, humility… is it our will too?
He wants to embrace us with these qualities, to bathe us in His love and mercy and grace.
Are we willing?

PRAYER:
Lord, Your heart comes through loud and clear through the lament written in this chapter. Help me to hear Your heart calling me, to see You with hands stretched out to me – ‘Come, let us reason together, I want to hold you close and release you from your sin. Are you willing?’