6/23/19

Pastor Caleb Galloway

"Longing for Shalom"

Isaiah 57:1-21 ESV

True Shalom is found only by seeking the heart of God. Seeking holiness leads to finding wholeness. In Isaiah 57, God chides Israel for looking for peace in the wrong places, and urges them to return to him, the only source of peace. Their idolatry was rooted unbelief, worldliness, desertion of God, dark and sinful practices, and scorning the righteous (Vs. 3-13). If we find ourselves longing for a peace that seems out of reach, we should allow God to pinpoint our own idols and addictions and return to God through confession. Even in our idolatry, he never gives up on pursuing us. (Vs. 18-19)

Israel’s Futile Idolatry

57 The righteous man perishes,

and no one lays it to heart;

rdevout men are taken away,

while no one understands.

For the righteous man is taken away from calamity;

 2 she enters into peace;

they rest tin their beds

who walk in their uprightness.

 3 But you, draw near,

sons of the sorceress,

uoffspring of the adulterer and the loose woman.

 4 Whom are you mocking?

Against whom vdo you open your mouth wide

and stick out your tongue?

Are you not children of wtransgression,

xthe offspring of deceit,

 5 you who burn with lust among ythe oaks,1

under every green tree,

zwho slaughter your children in the valleys,

under the clefts of the rocks?

 6 Among the smooth stones of athe valley is your portion;

they, they, are your lot;

to them you have poured out a drink offering,

you have brought a grain offering.

Shall I relent for these things?

 7 bOn a high and lofty mountain

you have set your bed,

and there you went up to offer sacrifice.

 8 Behind the door and the doorpost

you have set up your memorial;

for, deserting me, cyou have uncovered your bed,

you have gone up to it,

dyou have made it wide;

and you have made a covenant for yourself with them,

you have loved their bed,

you have looked on nakedness.2

 9 You journeyed to the king with oil

and multiplied your perfumes;

eyou sent your envoys far off,

and sent down even to Sheol.

 10 You were wearied with the length of your way,

fbut you did not say, “It is hopeless”;

you found new life for your strength,

and so you were not faint.3