#DailyDevotion Do You Treat The LORD Like A Vending Machine?
Amos 5 21“I hate and despise your festivals and take no delight in your meetings. 22Even if you bring Me burnt offerings and food offerings, I will not accept them; or your fat animals as peace offerings, I won’t look at them. 23Take away from Me the noise of your songs. I will not listen to the music of your lyres. 24Let what is right roll on like the waters, and justice like an ever-flowing stream.
This certainly tells us something about the worship the LORD desires from His people. He not so concerned with outward acts. While some Protestants rail against Rome’s ex opera operato, they can just be as guilty of treating the Divine like vending machine. You put in your change, press A-10, and presto! You get a Snicker’s bar. Can you imagine the LORD who gave the Israelites all the rules, regulations, precepts, laws, and words about how to worship Him in the Torah and having Him tell you, “I hate and despise your festivals and take no delight in your meetings.”
Indeed, the LORD here even rejects all their burnt offerings and food offerings. He will not accept any of their sacrifices. He didn’t want to hear them sing any worship songs or music. It had to have been a bit of a shock hearing this come from the prophet’s mouth. I’m sure they thought they were worshiping Him the way He told them to worship Him. Yet Jesus gives us a clue into how the LORD our God wants to be worshiped. In John 4 He says, “genuine worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. You see, the Father is looking for such people to worship Him. 24God is a spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth.”
Outward worship should reflect the inward state of our hearts. The LORD told them in Deut. 10, 16“Then circumcise your hearts, and don’t be stubborn anymore.” Paul would tell us in Romans 2, “29But he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and a man is circumcised in his heart by the Spirit, not just by doing what the words say. Such a person will not be praised by men but by God.” Now this is not something we can do but the LORD does it for us as Paul tells us in Col. 2, “ 11In Him you also were circumcised, not by human hands but by putting away the sinful body by the circumcision of Christ 12since in baptism you were buried with Him and raised with Him through faith produced by the power of God, Who raised Him from the dead.” Now the LORD promised the same thing to the Israelites in Deut. 30, “6The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your mind and all your heart and will live.” We see here they rejected the work of God upon them.
So the LORD tells them to let justice flow and let what is right roll like the waters. He is always calling them to repentance even up to the moment of destruction. Are we resisting the work of the Spirit upon our hearts? Is our worship not flowing from our heart but only out of duty or looking good to our neighbor? Is our life not reflecting the mercy of God which He has shown us in Christ Jesus? Let us live repentant lives. Let God’s mercy move our hearts to true worship of Him and love toward others. Look to Jesus and know God’s great love towards you and all people.
Merciful God and Father, circumcise our hearts so that we may worship You in Spirit and in Truth and so our lives may be living sacrifices You will accept. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.