The Mighty One, God the Lord,
speaks and summons the earth
from the rising of the sun to its setting.
2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
God shines forth.
3 Our God comes; he does not keep silence;
before him is a devouring fire,
around him a mighty tempest.
4 He calls to the heavens above
and to the earth, that he may judge his people:
5 “Gather to me my faithful ones,
who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!”
6 The heavens declare his righteousness,
for God himself is judge!
God hates hypocrisy, especially under the guise of Christian piety, good deeds and sacrificial offerings. The Lord does not need those things we sacrifice and offer. He already has all that He needs for His existence. What He really desires is the proper attitude that should accompany what we offer and what we do for Him. He desires sincerity as well as heartfelt repentance, gratitude, and humility. Mere adherence to the letter of the law does not please Him. We cannot rely on rituals and good deeds in the hope that these will balance the scales and outweigh our wickedness and sin.
And yet so many people, Christians included, try to balance out those scales in the expectation that surely, in the end, the good they have done will outweigh the bad and God will accept them. Any attempts to do this are really hypocritical for this is a way of condoning and excusing sin in ourselves and in others while promoting ourselves as virtuous. But the Lord God sees all this. He knows the heart of every individual so He knows and the reasons why people do what they do. He knows that those who condone, excuse or revel in wickedness really are suffering great pain, guilt and sadness because their lives are empty and meaningless. They try hard to suppress the Word of God as spoken by the Church so they feel comfortable and free from guilt but it never works. We should feel sorrow and pity for such people. We should also pray that the Lord would grant them wisdom and the grace to lead them to repentance and faith in Jesus.