Manipulators
Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you scoffers who rule this people in Jerusalem. —Isaiah 28:1
All this also comes from the Lord Almighty, whose plan is wonderful, whose wisdom is magnificent. —Isaiah 28:29
These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught. —Isaiah 29:13
You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, “You did not make me”? Can the pot say to the potter, “You know nothing”? —Isaiah 29:16
“Woe to the obstinate children,” declares the Lord, “to those who carry out plans that are not mine, forming an alliance, but not by my Spirit, heaping sin upon sin…” —Isaiah 30:1
For these are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to listen to the Lord’s instruction. They say to the seers, “See no more visions!” and to the prophets, “Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions. Leave this way, get off this path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel!” —Isaiah 30:10-11
One thing God has spoken, two things I have heard: “Power belongs to you, God, and with you, Lord, is unfailing love”; and, “You reward everyone according to what they have done.” —Psalm 62:11-12
Power hungry people are deluded. Many will use “religion” to manipulate people, but really “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.” They do not really want to hear the “Word of the Lord” and scoff at it. Of them we read, “Woe to the obstinate children,” declares the Lord, “to those who carry out plans that are not mine, forming an alliance, but not by my Spirit, heaping sin upon sin…” Yes, truly, “You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, “You did not make me”? Can the pot say to the potter, “You know nothing”? It is said of these people that they are “rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to listen to the Lord’s instruction. They say to the seers, “See no more visions!” and to the prophets, “Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions. Leave this way, get off this path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel!” Does this not sound like the world we are living in?
But… the Lord Almighty, whose plan is wonderful, whose wisdom is magnificent, He has all power over everything and, one day, He will set all things right. “One thing God has spoken, two things I have heard: “Power belongs to you, God, and with you, Lord, is unfailing love”; and, “You reward everyone according to what they have done.” And I thank You, Dear Father, for knowing this. May I seek to be faithful to Your desires by the power of Your Holy Spirit and in the authority of Your Son Jesus. On that day may I hear those words “well done, good and faithful servant.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=johgSkNj3-A&list=RDjohgSkNj3-A&start_radio=1