GOD is CALLING us to ‘REPENT’ and ‘RETURN’ to HIM!
August 3 Bible Reading: Isaiah Chapters 55-57
GOD is CALLING us to ‘REPENT’ and ‘RETURN’ to HIM!
"Seek the Lord
while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake
his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, and
He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon."
(Isaiah 55:6-7)
In anticipation of the restoration of His people, Jehovah God
calls upon His people Israel to repent and return (vv. 6, 7). For those who
still doubt His call, God reminds them that His plans transcend that of any
plans concocted by human beings as humans cannot always accurately read and
understand the ways of God (vv. 8, 9). It is absolutely certain that nothing
can stop what God has decreed so far (vv. 11-13).
The pathway of blessing
lies in seeking the Lord and in forsaking sin! Those who repent and return to God will
find Him full of mercy and pardon. The term “thoughts”
refers to one’s intentions, goals, or ambitions (Gen. 6:5; Ps. 33:10). The term
“way” speaks of the schemes and
methods by which a person tries to reach his goals apart from God. So, God is
counseling the wicked and sinners to give
up their personal self-exalting ambitions and schemes to reach their
self-satisfying goals in which God is not in the equation.
God’s free gift of salvation is offered to all who will
receive it, and He promises an everlasting covenant to the Gentiles like the
one He established with Israel. His invitation to all men is clearly stated by His
invitation: “Seek the Lord…call upon Him”,
which is conditioned by the phrases: “while
He may be found…while He is near”.
To those who genuinely repent and turn to Him, God promises mercy and pardon. In fact, to seek the
Lord is to seek His Word (Amos 5:6, 14; Acts 17:27). God requires living faith,
as indicated in repentance and change of behavior (James 2:18; 1 John 1:3–5). When
the sinner repents and turns to Christ by faith, God shows mercy and grants
pardon, and it is advisable that no one should delay in this matter (Prov.
1:20–33).
This marvelous call of
God is extended to us today! Let us look into our lives and see if we are living our
lives apart from God. If so, now is the
time to repent and return back to God. If we do that, we can be assured of
the fact that God will pardon our sins completely and restore our fellowship
with Him again!
For He says: "In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you." Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. (2 Cor. 6:2)
