From impurity to purity

Wk 1 Day 6

Isaiah 1:13, 24-26
¹³ Stop bringing meaningless offerings!
Your incense is detestable to me.
New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations—
I cannot bear your evil assemblies.

²⁴ Therefore the Lord, the LORD Almighty,
the Mighty One of Israel, declares:
"Ah, I will get relief from my foes
and avenge myself on my enemies.

²⁵ I will turn my hand against you;
I will thoroughly purge away your dross
and remove all your impurities.

²⁶ I will restore your judges as in days of old,
your counselors as at the beginning.
Afterward you will be called
the City of Righteousness,
the Faithful City."

// GOD:

.. is so gracious
.. is so merciful
.. delights in pleasing offerings

.. Why was the Lord so angry at Judah and Jerusalem? Because they have brought Him detestable [hateful, abominable] offerings.
.. Yet, even if they did that, later on we see how gracious He is; that the rebellious city will then be restored after removing all the impurities and purging all their dross [waste matter, refuse]
.. God Himself sees the good out of the bad, why couldn't we?

// BELLE:

.. I always need to be optimistic with things in life - with people, situations, etc.
.. I need to also be merciful

.. God does not delight in my detestable offerings - I always have to give Him my best
.. Principle: Impurities and dross need to be removed first before "it shines". Just like gold is being put on top of the fire to remove impurities before it gets its best beauty, so does myself.
.. I have a lot of impurities in life that I need to change. I gotta work on those before I will be at my best for God. I desire that, daily!

// LORD, this may be short, but thank you so much for your mercy and your love that never ends, never fades. You are so great that You see the best in me regardless of my impurities. Please cleanse me always; help me to change the things that is "detestable" before You. Please purify my life and help me to be conscious of what I need to change. Thank you for using people to correct and rebuke me of what I do wrong or unpleasantly (whether consciously or unconsciously). I just lift this up to You in Jesus' name, amen.