Isaiah 56:7 Even then will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.
As Close to God as You Want to Be
My wife and I just celebrated our twenty-third wedding anniversary. This is amazing to me. I don’t feel as if I have been married nearly that long, but I have been. It has been a wonderful 23 years for which I thank God.
When you celebrate a wedding anniversary, you are reminded of the fact that love and marriage are choices. These are not just choices you make when you say, “I do.” These are choices you make every day. So, too, is your relationship to God. Your relationship with God is a choice.
You are as close to God as you want to be, and two categories of people demonstrate this in Isaiah 56. First of all, the stranger who is not Jewish by birth illustrates this. The Bible talks of strangers who had joined themselves to God, and says, “Blessed is the man that doeth this.” Here is a man who is blessed because of what he chooses not because of where he is born. You can’t choose where, how, or to whom you are born, but you can choose how you live.
God says of these strangers who joined themselves to Him, “Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and…their sacrifices shall be accepted…for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.” Then He says, “Yet will I gather others.” Both Jews and Gentiles may have fellowship with their Creator.
Anyone can be as close to God as they choose to be. While God is immutable and unchanging, you and I can choose to move away from Him. James 4:8 says, “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.” As I take a step, God matches me step for step in fellowship.
The second category of people spoken of in Isaiah 56 is the religious leaders in Israel at that time. They were watchmen who were blind and guard dogs that loved to sleep. They thought only of themselves and did not shepherd God’s flock. In other words, though they were Jewish and though they were religious leaders, they chose to distance themselves from God by living in their own way.
Regardless of the privilege or poverty into which you were born, your life is your decision and you are as close to God as you want to be.