Sometimes we make our own independent plans or run straight to other people for help. We don’t ask God first. As Joyce Meyer says, ‘When you’ve got a problem: don’t go to the phone, go to the throne.’
The prophet Isaiah criticises God’s people for the way in which they made their plans. They failed to consult God (30:1–2). As a result, they had gone off in the wrong direction. They had gone off to Egypt without so much as asking God.
The trouble is, they didn’t really want to know God’s plans. Their worship is a mere formality (29:13): ‘These people make a big show of saying the right thing, but their hearts aren’t in it. Because they act like they’re worshiping me but don’t mean it’ (v.13, MSG).
Jesus says these words were not written simply for the people of Isaiah’s day. He says to the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, ‘You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: “These people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules”’ (Matthew 15:7–9).
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