Seek

Yet they seek me daily

and delight to know my ways,

as if they were a nation that did righteousness

and did not forsake the judgment of their God;

they ask of me righteous judgments;

they delight to draw near to God.

Isaiah 58:2

Here is a challenging passage for those of us who "watch daily at wisdom's gates", who are regularly in the Word of God. It's all very well having daily devotional times. It's great to delight in knowing God's ways. But if such meditations don't result in us becoming more righteous, they're useless,:simply producing hypocrites.

Reading the Bible should cause us to change our lives. If there's no repentance and change of heart after coming to the Scriptures, then all of our studies are worthless. God's judgement is that we should become righteous in Christ. If we dismiss that and just want to increase our head knowledge, we risk falling under the judgement of God.

Someone who studies Scripture and doesn't put it into practice is like someone who peers into a mirror then immediately forgets what he looks like (and his need to spruce up!). It's not enough to ask God for righteous judgements in our favour if we are not righteously judging in the favour of the needy people we come across: the hungry, the homeless; the helpless and hopeless.

If we draw near to God, which can only be a good thing, we are going to have to be prepared to be refined, honed, to have our rough edges smoothed away. We're like stones on a beach: being pounded away at by the sea of God's judgements, which make us smooth and beautiful.

"God, I ask that my Bible reading would result in a changed heart. Forgive me for times it doesn't. Please smooth off my rough edges and make me more like Christ. In his name, amen"