Sweet Little Lies

Have a look at Isaiah 30:10-18

Hot dang, huh! Gives me a fever to see the resemblance of Gods people in 800s b.c. Judah and America 2010. Such is the way of a people who become completely disobedient and blasphemous to God.

            Each one of us wants an answer, and for each one of us, we have an idea of what we would like that answer to be. Many things we would like to hear and many things that will happen regardless. It would be easy to trust Isaiah if the Rebellious Judah knew just how crooked from the Truth they were, but even the wise leaders were far from it.            

            Isaiah lived in a time of great economic wealth in his land, with great merchant ships in Tarshish, and great wealth coming from Egypt and Moab, the people in his day had a lot of gravity to keep their eyes from God. In v.10 they speak to Isaiah out of belief that this is never going to end. Who would want a Prophet to tell the leaders that the wealth would come to an end?  The mistake they made was all that gravity of wealth took their eyes off God. Not to say we can’t make money but we can’t let the world become God, and that’s what Judah was surmounting to happen. It’s said in Psalm145:8 that our Lord is ‘slow to get angry and full of love and mercy,’ truly this is correct because the Lord did not act on Judah for another few generations, but His destruction was memorable (v.14). Even thought this message there was hope in Isaiah from the Lord; “turn this way, and walk here (v.21).” He always gives the weak a chance to be saved!

            The Judeans still did not look to the Lord for answers at all despite various warnings. This story reminds me of the story in Matthew of the farm tenants. The Lord sends His people to collect His share (Matt 21:33-46) and the people in the farm kill the messengers. This is sadly true in Isaiah’s case because he was later sawed in half by the king. Chances are that won't happen to you.

            The fact is; we as humans will tend to hear what we want. Even in prayer we may look for a certain answer. When we read about our Lords promises, even for what we desire, we should look foreword to reward, and prosperity, but He doesn’t want us to depend on that for Him, He wants us to depend on Him for that, for everything else. What? I'll say it again: God does not want us to depend on that to justify the need of God, God wants us to faithfully be dependent on Him. How terrible it is for the one who makes God out to be a puppet. Jesus said that we would have everything we need to serve the Lord, and truly we do. The challenge is to hand over all our hopes to the Lord, even when He gives us what we want; we still have to submit to His dominance.  The mistake the Judeans made was turning to mere people for help, but God is bigger (Isaiah 8:19).

            One key to effectively depending on the Lord is practice, the more you learn that He is in control, the more you will be humble yourself, the less you submit the more you will be humbled by Him (Luke 14:11). One way of taking up your cross is denying yourself; so how far will you go? What are you willing to give up? Believe in the promises of God, he does not disappoint.