Nougat 17

A very uncomfortable statement in my childhood was hearing the words, ‘I have a writ against you.’ For it usually meant that somehow, somewhere an offense had occurred and the relationship required radical rebuilding. Consider today’s Holy Nougat

““Is not this the fast I choose: to release the bonds of wickedness, to untie the cords of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to tear off every yoke?” ‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭58:6‬ ‭TLV‬‬

God had a writ against Israel. They’d been doing all the right thing, saying the prayers, observing the religious days. But God was absolutely disappointed with them. And God opened a case against them. One that clearly outlined the nature of the writ.

It wasn’t so much about their attitude to God’s Word, or their attitude towards worship. No. It was their attitude towards (each) others that disgusted God beyond measure. Their acts of righteousness were as filthy rags when held against the absence of Compassion and Justice. One might even argue that it was the absence of both that made their ‘righteous’ actions filthy.

The writ then was a warning, a call to do differently. An opportunity to dare to be as genuine as God desired. Which truthfully, could not be done without divine intervention. They needed to do more than know and recite Scripture, in Christ’s love, they had to apply the Scripture. Well actually, at that time, it was in God’s love. And though the writ outlined the seriousness of God’s complaint; it implicitly held the possibility for redemption. Because God could have chosen to directly punish them; but didn’t. God chose to first register the writ.

Does God have a writ against any of us on similar grounds?

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May all we seek be found in Christ