Amazing grace how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now I’m found
Was blind but now I see

What are we hanging onto to that blinds us from God’s amazing grace?  What is it that takes away our peace in good times and bad?  These are daily questions of reflection we must ask ourselves in order to move forward with God in the lead.  Peace is a gift from God that follows our “being still and knowing God,” repenting and letting go of all that is not God in our lives.

During the last days of Judah and Jerusalem, before the Babylonian army came, the land and the city were polluted with idols. King Hezekiah and King Josiah had led the people in destroying the idols and the high places, but as soon as an ungodly king took the throne, the people went right back to their old ways. Both Isaiah and Jeremiah told the people that God would punish them for breaking His law, but they persisted in the ways of the godless nations around them.

Friends, we all have idols that we hide or hang onto while we wonder why God is not helping us.  What is it that is standing between you and God?  That is your idol.

Isaiah 57, The Message

Never Tired of Trying New Religions

^1-2 Meanwhile, right-living people die
    and no one gives them a thought.
God-fearing people are carted off
    and no one even notices.
The right-living people are out of their misery,
    they’re finally at rest.
They lived well and with dignity
    and now they’re finally at peace.

* * *

^3-10 “But you, children of a witch, come here!
    Sons of a slut, daughters of a whore.
What business do you have taunting,
    sneering, and sticking out your tongue?
Do you have any idea what wretches you’ve turned out to be?
    A race of rebels, a generation of liars.
You satisfy your lust any place you find some shade
    and fornicate at whim.
You kill your children at any convenient spot—
    any cave or crevasse will do.
You take stones from the creek
    and set up your sex-and-religion shrines.
You’ve chosen your fate.
    Your worship will be your doom.
You’ve climbed a high mountain
    to practice your foul sex-and-death religion.

Behind closed doors
    you assemble your precious gods and goddesses.
Deserting me, you’ve gone all out, stripped down
    and made your bed your place of worship.
You’ve climbed into bed with the ‘sacred’ whores
    and loved every minute of it,
    adoring every curve of their naked bodies.
You anoint your king-god with ointments
    and lavish perfumes on yourselves.
You send scouts to search out the latest in religion,
    send them all the way to hell and back.
You wear yourselves out trying the new and the different,
    and never see what a waste it all is.
You’ve always found strength for the latest fad,
    never got tired of trying new religions.

^11-13 “Who talked you into the pursuit of this nonsense,
    leaving me high and dry,
    forgetting you ever knew me?
Because I don’t yell and make a scene,
    do you think I don’t exist?
I’ll go over, detail by detail, all your ‘righteous’ attempts at religion,
    and expose the absurdity of it all.
Go ahead, cry for help to your collection of no-gods:
    A good wind will blow them away.
    They’re smoke, nothing but smoke.

“But anyone who runs to me for help
    will inherit the land,
    will end up owning my holy mountain!”

* * *

¹⁴ Someone says: “Build, build! Make a road!
    Clear the way, remove the rocks
    from the road my people will travel.”

^15-21 A Message from the high and towering God,
    who lives in Eternity,
    whose name is Holy:
“I live in the high and holy places,
    but also with the low-spirited, the spirit-crushed,
And what I do is put new spirit in them,
    get them up and on their feet again.
For I’m not going to haul people into court endlessly,
    I’m not going to be angry forever.
Otherwise, people would lose heart.
    These souls I created would tire out and give up.
I was angry, good and angry, because of Israel’s sins.
    I struck him hard and turned away in anger,
    while he kept at his stubborn, willful ways.

When I looked again and saw what he was doing,
    I decided to heal him, lead him, and comfort him,
    creating a new language of praise for the mourners.
Peace to the far-off, peace to the near-at-hand,” says God—
    “and yes, I will heal them.
But the wicked are storm-battered seas
    that can’t quiet down.
    The waves stir up garbage and mud.
There’s no peace,” God says, “for the wicked.”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear
And grace my fears relieved
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed

Amazing Grace is playing in the background of this scary, but necessary warning from Isaiah who is speaking to all who have abandoned God while they seek self-satisfying, self-seeking religions that lead to death.   Does that happen today?  Absolutely! 

Anything that we trust other than the Lord becomes our god and therefore is an idol. It may be our training, experience, job, money, friends, or position. One of the best ways to find out whether we have idols in our lives is to ask ourselves, “Where do I instinctively turn when I face a decision or need to solve a problem?” Do we reach for the phone to call a friend? Do we assure ourselves that we can handle the situation ourselves? Or do we turn to God to seek His will and receive His help?

Through many dangers, toils, and snares
I have already come
This grace that brought me safe thus far
And grace will lead me home

Here is the key passage that explains the amazing grace of God: “When I looked again and saw what he was doing, I decided to heal him, lead him, and comfort him, creating a new language of praise for the mourners.”  That new language of praise is Jesus.

Amazing grace how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now I’m found
Was blind but now I see

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8

Lord,

Thank you for saving my soul and making me whole again. Thank you for your gift of peace that surpasses anything this world has to offer.  You are God, we are not.  There is no one like You.  So, I trust in you.  I believe in what you say.  Your grace to me will never be taken for granted.  Thank you, Lord.

In Jesus Name, Amen