The book of Isaiah is about Judah’s
sinfulness and God’s desire that the people repent. God went to great lengths…including
appointing Isaiah…to tell the people exactly what He wanted.
Nobody was listening…
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
It’s been said “The devil you know is better than the devil you don’t know”. It’s true…Judah was living with the devil…Damascus and Samaria…and even though they had lost their independence Judah had grown comfortable with the arrangement.
“The
devil you know…”
This wasn’t how God wanted it. God offered
to intervene in fighting off Damascus and Samaria. The king said “no thank you”. How do you say “no” to God?
It happens all the time…
But, God is a jealous God. He will not take
“no” for an answer. If we become too comfortable
in our disobedience God will turn up the heat. He instructed Isaiah to tell the
people “the
wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the
king of Assyria”.
Life was about to become measurably worse…Assyria
was coming.
The metaphor was clear. “Lord will bring on them the strong and
abundant waters of the Euphrates…and it will sweep on into Judah. It will
overflow and pass through; it will reach even to the neck” “The devil you don’t know…”
Take a look around. In our complacency, who’s the devil we’ve grown comfortable with today? A recent Gallup poll tells us he’s our eroding social fabric. We struggle to cope with homosexuality, deficit spending, abortion, same-sex marriage, euthanasia and sexual permissiveness. And, the poll tells us we are assimilating these changes well. In other words, we are becoming more and more comfortable with values and conduct that would have been unthinkable a generation ago.
And…just when we achieve a manageable level of comfort God will
send the Assyrians. I can’t imagine what they’ll bring with them but, in the cacophony
of moral decay God instructs us “not to walk in the
way of this people”. God tells us some will prevail. How? When people tell
you, “Try out the fortunetellers. Consult the spiritualists. Why not tap
into the spirit-world, get in touch with the dead?” Tell them, “No, we’re going
to study the Scriptures.”
Here’s the real question for people of faith. Am I struggling to find comfort in an eroding culture, or am I struggling to stay close to the comfort and safety of God? Either way it’s a struggle but…the two don’t yield the same results.
Live boldly out there today…
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