“Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil …” (Isaiah 1:16) In the verse above, God tells the Israelites to “put away” their evil doings from His eyes. This sounds almost impossible, because what can we hide from the eyes of God? He is everywhere and He sees everything.
In church a person can pretend to be righteous, but when he leaves and goes home he shrugs off his ‘righteousness’ and ill-treats his family or goes to work and becomes another person towards his co-workers. So how does one hide his sins from God’s eyes? The key is in the last sentence of the verse: “Cease to do evil.” God is asking His people to stop sinning. He is asking us to stop doing anything that promotes the spirit of oppression, the spirit that is hurtful towards others. God gives us a recipe for turning away from evil: “Learn to do good; seek justice, rebuke the oppressor; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow. (Isaiah 1:17) And when we stop gossiping, slandering, lying, abusing alcohol or anything evil, then we will find God’s mercy: “Come now, and let us reason together,” says the LORD, “ Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. (Isaiah 1:18) God promises forgiveness, no matter what we’ve done in the past. No matter how deep, how dark our mistakes were, He’d turn them from scarlet red, to snow white.
Dear reader, God wants to use you to glorify His name. He wants to give you an abundant life, but He cannot do anything if your hands are stained with sin. Maybe you say: “But I don’t steal, or smoke or commit adultery! My hands are clean.” Yes, maybe you’ve done none of those things – your hands are clean, but what about your heart? Is pride hidden in your heart? Do you hate someone? Or maybe you’re envious of a friend or family member. There is no difference then between you and the person who is stealing.
If you listen to God’s voice and “cease doing evil”, He in turn makes a promise to you: If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land…” (vs 19)
Will you turn your back on sin and cease doing evil?