Go beyond the Letter

(Isa 29:13 NAS77) Then the Lord said, "Because this people draw near with their words And honor Me with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote,

(Provers 7 also read)

There is a concept here that goes beyond just writing something down or even memorizing it.  In Sunday School I was getting a bit bored so I kept reading one of the verses the teacher had thrown in, seemingly at random.  Since I can read the cross references in the center of the page I was not overly impressed by his scholarship, but the word caught my eye.  It was this verse that got me thinking.  First, you need to notice this is the NASB today.  The KJV is based on the same Hebrew but comes across differently.  Also notice that the “by rote” is in italics which means it is added for understanding.

That being said, it stuck me that what often happens in our lives is that we read and study and memorize but we never let it touch our “hearts” (3820).  It is not enough to be able to recite.  The idea is to let the word change us as we respond.

So?  Keep up the disciplines but I find I need to find ways to wake myself up from the ritual.  We each need to find out own way to do it.