Devotional

Vain Worship

Michael Beck

“Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God.” (Isaiah 58:2)

The worst form of deception is religious deception. God looked at His people of old and called their worship of Him vain. They honored Him with their lips, but didn’t give Him their ears. They drew near to Him with their bodies, but removed their hearts from Him. And all the while, they deemed themselves a godly people who were earnestly seeking Him.

There is nothing more evil than making God the author of our sin. To take His name in vain, claiming that He is supporting us as we walk down an evil way is an abomination to Him.

God is uninterested in our sacrifice. He doesn’t care how much we’re doing for Him; or how much we talk about Him – He wants us to listen to Him. And this listening must address what His Word has to say about our life. How can we cleanse our way; how can anything crooked in our life be made straight? We must take heed to what the Word of God has to say. We are not at liberty to pick and choose what parts we will adhere to and what parts we will discard.

The true test of whether we are the Lord’s people is whether we are taking heed to His instruction and correction of us. We can pray all we want, but our voice will not be heard on high, if we are not hearing from Him on earth. “He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, Even his prayer shall be abomination.” (Prov. 28:9)


Michael Beck is a pastor in the Dallas, TX area and the main author on Signpost. Receive a daily devotional he publishes every morning via email.