by Steve Hale
"When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; Even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood" ( Isaiah 1:15, NKJV).
Judah was trying to worship the LORD. The right forms were being restored, yet. violence and sin still ruled their lives.
The LORD told Judah through Isaiah that He would not accept their worship while their lives repudiated the claims they made by their sacrifices. "Bring no more futile sacrifices; Incense is an abomination to Me. The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies--I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting" ( Isaiah 1:13).
Their only hope was a genuine return to God: a return not just in form apd ritual, but from the heart. "Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Put away evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil, Learn to do good; Seek justice, Rebuke the oppressor; Defend the fatherless, Plead for the widow" ( Isaiah 1:16-17).
In other words, make genuine changes in your daily lives that reflect heartfelt repentance. Among these are acts of kindness toward the helpless: "...Defend the fatherless, Plead for the widow" ( Isaiah 1:17).
For twenty-five horrible years, the helpless have been crying-out. Incredibly, in those 25 years, nearly 40 I million of them have brutally died. January 22 marks the 25th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, the infamous Supreme
Court decision that struck down state laws restricting abortion. Still, over one million abortions take place in this country every year (down from a high of nearly 2 million).
The years have hardened us, and our outrage has softened. Fanatics, anarchists that bomb abortion clinics have hurt the pro-life cause. The answer is not evil for evil, we must overcome evil with good ( Romans 12:19-21). We must leave vengeance to the Lord.
And now, we face the new challenge of partial birth abortion. Though passed through Congress, these bills have faced Presidential vetoes. The House of
Representatives has enough votes to override a Presidential veto, but unfortunately, the Senate is still six votes short.
The procedure is so grotesque, that Senator Daniel Patrick Moynahan has called it: "infanticide." He is exactly right! Everyday in America, nearly 4,000 unborn children die, and now, even the partially born! As a
.. nation, how can God hear us and bless us when our hands "...are full of blood" (lsa. 1 :15)? We must turn this around!
We must lift up our voices! How sad, when the most violent place in America is not the Bowery of New York City, Chinatown of San Francisco, or the French Quarter of New Orleans, but the womb of mothers!