Weary of Sin or the Way?

“You are wearied in the length of your way; yet you did not say, 'There is no hope.' You have found the life of your hand; therefore you were not grieved.”

Isaiah 57:10

This verse grabbed my attention from our text at Calvary Chapel Sydney this week.  The context of the passage is God’s rebuke of His people for offering sacrifices to idols.  They went to great lengths to embrace the abominable practice of human sacrifice and sensual fertility rituals.  God’s lament was how the people wearied themselves in their sin, but they were not weary of their sin.  Their sin was what they lived for, and it was killing them at the same time.

The people were wearied by the expense of their sin but did not notice the toll it took upon their families, nation, and their ability to worship God.  It reminds me of the response of smokers I worked with when California exponentially increased the cost of cigarettes.  The price increase may have influenced some to quit, but the people I knew were only annoyed their habit would cost them more.  They were already fully invested, for smoking was a part of their lives.  In Isaiah’s day until now people looked to other gods for hope which could not deliver.  They offered grain in hope of better harvests, and fed their own children to the flames in fertility rituals.  Instead of worshipping God with thankful hearts for what He had already provided them, they sacrificed what they had to idols who could not receive their offerings, save, or provide anything.

It is good for us to be brought to a point of hopelessness so we might discover the genuine hope offered all by Jesus.  We do not need to placate demons, nor do we need to bribe idols to keep evil at bay:  the Most High God who created all things is over all.  Jesus has come to break the chains of the wicked one and deliver us from the power of Satan.  As it is written in 1 John 3:8, “He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.”  Jesus said a house divided against itself cannot stand, and Satan is not interested in tearing down with his own hands what he has laboured to build.  Jesus is able to bind the strong man, plunder his house, and in due time cast him into hell.

How important it is to discern the difference between being weary of the way or being weary of our sin!  Many times men have repented for the way, experiencing grief for their great pains and sacrifices without the return they longed for.  This is not repentance for sin but sorrow for self.  There is a sorrow for sin not to be sorry for because it results in repentance (2 Corinthians 7:11).  May God bring all of us to true repentance for sin so we might be finally rid of it and enter into the peace and freedom God provides for all who are born again through the Gospel.