I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Isaiah 29-31.

Isaiah condemns those who claim to follow God but do not.  Rather than act according to God’s desires they follow man-made rules by rote.  Every time I read this I think of those people who follow the letter of law on rules, knowing full will that what they are doing goes against the intention of the rule.  Some of them goes so far as to enforce the rule to the letter knowing that by doing so they are doing the opposite of the intent.  Even though they know they are acting against God’s intentions they think He will not notice because they are following the letter, as they understand it, of the rules.  Isaiah reminds us that God is not stupid and He knows what is in our hearts and minds. 

When Assyria invaded Judah, some of the political leaders sought aid from Egypt.  Rather than seeking guidance from God, they reached out to Egypt for assistance.  Were these the same people Isaiah had condemned for following the letter of the rules rather than the intent?  Perhaps.  I want to focus on the fact that those who failed to seek God’s guidance on how to deal with the Assyrians also told the prophets to stop telling them what is right.  Instead they wanted the prophets to tell them nice things.  We see the same thing today, people tell us to stop telling them about what God says; to stop telling them what God says will happen if they continue in their sins.  They want us to tell them lies, to tell them that nothing bad will happen as a result of their sins.