Daily Devotional for Saturday, July 27

The Judgment

“But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth? Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee,” Psalm 50:16, 17.

An odd thing happens in sports around eigthth and nineth grades. Players will often develop bad attitudes and poor work ethics, and the coach will come to them and ask, “Do you even like this sport?” All too often the coach will be told no, they do not like the game, but they are doing it just because their parents want them to be on the team. They are basketball-hating basketball players. Normally, this ends as a good conversation where this young person can gracefully leave and find something else that he enjoys. It makes sense for that young person to leave the team.

The psalmist writes of those who try to stay within the covenant people of God but who firmly reject the covenant at the same time. These bring offerings to God but reject His moral law. They speak the words of life but reject the life of which they speak. They are God-rejecting God fearers. It makes no sense.

God rejects this kind of service. He has no place for this kind of follower. One must either believe it all or not be a part. As has been often said, the banquet of God is not a buffet. This happens even today. We seek the blessings but skip the sacrifices. We want to belong but not to believe. We even take pride in our sins rather than repenting of them. This brings us to the judgment of God: an unrepentant faith is no faith at all. God rejects it.

REFLECTION
The faith once for all delivered to the saints is real. The invitation of God is to believe all of it.

Jason Rutherford