When you come to appear before me,
who has asked this of you,
this trampling of my courts?
Isaiah 1:12
Observation: Isaiah's prophesies begin with the Lord declaring his frustration with Israel. He even says he has punished them so much that they are beaten up yet haven't corrected themselves, so punishment has become pointless. They aren't listening, and they don't know him. He has even grown tired of the very mechanisms defined to bring them close to him ... festivals, fellowship offerings, sacrifices, prayer ... he doesn't want them anymore. He describes their coming and going from these things a "trampling of his courts" and wonders who even asked them to do all this in the first place.
Well, one might answer ... the Lord himself asked for all this. However, the truth is, he did not. The Lord did not ask for unrepentant people to periodically go through a ritual that involved procedural public bathing followed by milling around a giant barbeque speaking scripted words so they could then return to their homes and pray to other gods. The Lord asked for his faithful people, who have managed their lives in a manner that kept him central, to partake in communion with him, and then to keep him central in their lives until the next time they come.
The Lord is clear that their worship is empty because it is procedural obedience, not a heart-felt alignment and worship. This is especially true when many of them include other parts of their daily routine that are in contradiction to the Lord, such as worship to false gods, making the ritualistic process they give to Yahweh even worse as it isn't even an act of compliance to the one true God at that point, but just some acts they do every day.
Application: I know I go through times when things I do to honor the Lord, I do out of ritual or just process. There are times I attend church on Sunday because ... that's what one does on Sunday morning, and I sing worship songs there because that's the first thing we do during service. And I know when I do that, I am not really being faithful, and I feel that real-time. Even though the Lord has asked for my worship, he doesn't really hear it when I'm only doing it as part of a ritual habit. Even my devotions, there are times I do these simply because this is what I do to start my day.
Yes, I need to avoid this pattern and work through it when it happens. I do know the Holy Spirit helps with this, as there are times I know this is my mindset and then my mindset adjusts as I lean into worship or prayer or the word. That said, the fix is NOT to just tell myself "okay, time to get your mind and heart right and want to be with the Lord". The fix is to actually keep the Lord central in my life, and thus these actions are not just ritual, they are opportunity.
Going to church isn't a ritual for Sunday morning, it is an opportunity to surround myself with believers and learn more about Jesus. Worship isn't a ritual of singing to God, it is an opportunity to use music to express my love and thanks and praise to Yahweh. Devotions aren't a ritual to clear my head for the day, they are an opportunity to connect with the Holy Spirit and bring him into my life through the eternal word of the Lord.
Prayer: Lord, I never, ever want to be accused of trampling on your courts. I don't want my actions to be rituals I just do. May I keep you more and more central in my life and in my heart every day, so my worship and prayer may simply flow as a part of my love for you. Amen.
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