His anger is not turned away.

Isaiah {9:13} For the people turneth not unto him that smiteth
them, neither do they seek the LORD of hosts. {9:14}
Therefore the LORD will cut off from Israel head and tail,
branch and rush, in one day. {9:15} The ancient and
honourable, he [is] the head; and the prophet that teacheth
lies, he [is] the tail. {9:16} For the leaders of this people
cause [them] to err; and [they that are] led of them [are]
destroyed. {9:17} Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in
their young men, neither shall have mercy on their
fatherless and widows: for every one is an hypocrite and an
evildoer, and every mouth speaketh folly. For all this his
anger is not turned away, but his hand [is] stretched out still.


Hypocrite and evildoer, mouths speaking folly.

We want God to overlook our hypocrisy.
We want God to overlook our evil doing.
We want God to overlook the folly we speak with our mouths.

It doesn't matter who we are.

Young.
Old.
Leader.
Follower.
Fatherless, motherless, childless, widows, widowers.
Executive.
Laborer.

None of it matters, not one little tiny bit.

It doesn't matter if you are a church leader, a choir singer, a visitor, a patron, it doesn't matter.

What matters if you're alive.
If you're alive you are accountable for your actions.
Every single action you make you are accountable for and have no one but yourself to answer for that action. You can claim outside influence just as Eve claimed beguiling by the Devil. Did Eve's claim to beguiling and Adam's claiming Eve giving him the fruit change their guilt any? Was it then pronounced by God that everything was fine the blame was passed on to the beguiler? No.

No. Everything wasn't fine, the sin remained. The beguiler reaped a punishment for beguiling but ultimately Eve and Adam both were to pay for their own sins.

Today we can blame everything for our actions- circumstance, trickery, beguiling- we can blame all sorts of things for our actions but ultimately we choose every action we make. Even in the most tense situations where we feel our hands are being forced by circumstances, we make the choice that we have to be responsible for. Some say it was a life or death situation, so compromising principles and such should be understood, surely we're not expected to die. But maybe we are.

I hear the shout of a cruel, unloving God that would ask that of us. Well, it's simply not true. God's love goes beyond our comprehension and we are only given small glimpses of that love in our lives such as a father or mother for a child- raising a child- you don't ask nothing of that child you expect obedience and you discipline the child to get the obedience.

God's ways are so far beyond our own but faith and trust are so important.

He is our creator, period.

He is our creator and as such we- His creation are not meant to function fully without Him guiding our lives.

We want to think that God will overlook our short comings but He won't.

He overlooks NOTHING.

How can He overlook sin, when He allowed His only Son to die for sin?

Jesus died for us to pay the price of our forgiven sins, sins we repent of and do no more. Jesus died and God would be very remiss to make the death of His only Son so meaningless that He can simply overlook the sins we commit as being unimportant.

A price was paid for sin.

Sin cannot be overlooked.

Sin can be forgiven.

Isaiah {9:17} Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in
their young men, neither shall have mercy on their
fatherless and widows: for every one is an hypocrite and an
evildoer, and every mouth speaketh folly. For all this his
anger is not turned away, but his hand [is] stretched out still.

No joy. No mercy. His anger is not turned away.

We can't expect sin to be overlooked.

Sin must be confessed.

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to
forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness.

We can't expect our sins no matter how tiny or how huge to be overlooked. We can't excuse them away because of this reason or that. We must confess our sins.

May our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ hear our prayer as we seek to confess our sins and repent of them. May His faithfulness and His being just forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness.

By His mercy and grace now and forever!

Amen.