When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen. 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
In the end, God Himself will rise up on behalf of the defenseless. Meanwhile, He offers us the opportunity to do His work. Hidden in this rebuke of a nation gone mad is God’s heart for those who have no strength.
Have you lost your influence? Is your voice no longer heard? Are you poor and insignificant in the eyes of this world? Then you are close to the heart of God. All day long, God is watching. He sees how you are treated and He cares. No one can blind God’s eyes by parading religion in front of His face. God knows. He remembers.
Who is at the top of God’s list? Those who are left off the world’s list. Widows, single moms, kids with no dad, the outcasts, the homeless, the sick and the confused. No matter how small you are, you matter so much to God that He will judge a nation by how the forgotten people are treated.
Be encouraged!
Dwight
Dwight Clough is the author of four Christian books and is an active member of Lake City Church in Madison. This devotional is also available via email and you may review the archives back to 2002. To contact Dwight or Kim, use their contact form. You may also support their ministry.