Backwards Day...and backwards faith

Today: Isaiah 28-30

When you were in elementary school, do you remember goofy dress-up days? My school had things like Wacky Hair Day, Rock Star Day and Backwards Day. Backwards Day usually involved wearing some kind of shirt backwards, but also meant walking backwards or eating dessert first at lunch (hey--I could used to that one!).

Have you ever met people who have backwards faith? Or more importantly, have you ever had backwards faith yourself? Take a look at this portion of today's passage:

You pretend to have the inside track.

You shut God out

and work behind the scenes,

Plotting the future

as if you knew everything,

acting mysterious,

never showing your hand.

You have everything backward!

You treat the potter as a lump of clay.

Does a book say to its author, "He didn't write a word of me"?

Does a meal say to the woman who cooked it, "She had nothing to do with this"?

Whoa. That's some pretty serious stuff--but how true is it? So many people and so many religions are all about works, focused on man-made plans and achievements. We often try to create God in our own images--instead of recognizing that He's the one who made us in His image. We put our faith in our own hands...which isn't really faith at all. Backwards.

Thankfully, there's a solution to this common human error. Here's an excerpt from later in today's text:

God, the Master, The Holy of Israel, has this solemn counsel:

"Your salvation requires you to turn back to me

and stop your silly efforts to save yourselves.

Your strength will come from settling down

in complete dependence

on me—

The very thing you've been unwilling to do..."

Tomorrow: Isaiah 31-35