Who Do You Run To?

July 25, 2022

Who Do I Run To?

Who Do You Run To?

By Sally Lombardo

“Why will you still be struck down? Why will you continue to rebel? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but bruises and sores and raw wounds; they are not pressed out or bound up or softened with oil… Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression, bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause. “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 like crimson, they shall become like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” (Isaiah 1:5-6, 16-20)

* To enhance today’s devotional, we encourage you to read Isaiah 1: 1-20.*

As I began this series of devotionals on Isaiah, I came across the story of Philip and the Ethiopian servant. Philip was in Samaria after the scattering of the church, and an angel of the Lord told him to get up and go south to the road leading down to Gaza. He did. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asks the man. “How can I?” He responds, “unless someone guides me?” (See Acts 8:26-31). In this same way, I want to sit with you as we walk through these sometimes difficult Scriptures. As we become disciples in Christ, we long to understand his Word.

What does this first passage say to us? We are like Israel. We are sometimes God’s “Daughter Zion,” hiding in an abandoned shelter in a vineyard waiting to be found. We wonder why our “head is injured” and our heart in pain, why there is no soundness of mind, but we keep doing the same things we’ve always done that may not be according to God’s laws. We hide from God and run to the temporary “shelters” we build away from his sovereign eye. I often wonder if I really want him to find me and fix those broken things. Thankfully, He searches me out like a shepherd and teaches me in gentle and unpredictable ways.

We need guidance, and this is what Isaiah offers. Chapter 1 comes out of the box like a herald that challenges us to open our eyes. Maybe all of Isaiah is a response to the first question, “Why do you persist in rebellion? Your whole head is injured?” (Isaiah 1:5 NIV). If we listen closely to Isaiah’s wisdom, we might make sense of our rebellion and why we suffer at times. We can watch and see how God answers.

Reflection:

How can you “learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression, bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause” in your family, community, and life, as verse 17 tells us? What do these things mean to you? We would love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

Recommended Resource:

Let's face it, the Christian life is hard. Relationships take work. Christians forget. Sometimes it is tempting to go back to the days when God was not the center of our lives - to backslide. We are all faced with tremendous pressures to drift away from intimacy with Jesus and the community of the Church. However, the Lord invites us to pay attention, to move forward, to draw near, and to live lives of worship. Draw Near: Hebrews on Christian Worship is a small group Bible study on the Book of Hebrews intended to lead participants into a deeper intimacy with the living God in the context of New Testament worship. Draw nearer to God in authentic worship today!