Daily Devotions
The Innocent
Title: The Innocent
Reading for July 15: Isaiah 1-3
"When you spread out your hands,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers,
I will not listen;
your hands are full of blood.”
Isaiah 1:15
God’s concern for the innocent victims of oppression and injustice is a familiar theme in the prophets. Two verses later, God called on his people to defend the fatherless and the widow (1:17).
We can understand God’s righteous indignation. We get angry when we see helpless victims suffer from abuse, neglect, and oppression. We rightly cry for justice. But are we consistent in our feelings? There may be some groups we’re forgetting…
What about the unborn? You may try to rationalize this in your mind however you like, but do you really think you see the unborn the way God does when you kill what he has created?
What about the elderly? Are you doing everything you can to care for your aging parents and/or grandparents? Do you complain about what you are doing? How does our worship sound to God when that's our attitude?
What about mentally disturbed? It's easy for us to dismiss people like this (I can only imagine how hard it is to deal with them), but can we come to the throne of God with clean hands when we callously do nothing to help them?
Father, forgive us of our indifference and self-centeredness. Give us a heart to care for those who cannot care for or defend themselves.
