Just My Opinion

There are times when I am reading the scriptures when they seem to jump off the page. The old familiar words get placed before me in a new way and I am reading them from a completely different perspective.

Isaiah received these prophesy’s from God thousands of years ago but when I read them over the weekend they seemed so relevant for the times we are in today. I will also say (in my humble opinion) that the observations of how relevant some of the ancient prophesies were to the various things going on in our nation, well it made the hairs on my skin stand on end a bit.

Isaiah received his prophesies from God around 700 BC. At that time the nation of Israel had been divided into two kingdoms. He was primarily speaking to the people of Judah in the south, but both the northern Israel and the southern Judah were headed in a direction away from God, they were seeking help from other countries instead of looking to God for help. They were bowing down to man made idols and not worshiping the one true God.

Even though theses words were written down thousands of years ago when I read them over the weekend they seemed so very relavent for where our nation is right now.

Isaiah 30

^{ISA 30:1} "Woe to the obstinate children,"

declares the LORD,

"to those who carry out plans that are not mine,

forming an alliance, but not by my Spirit,

heaping sin upon sin;…

(skipped down to verse 8)

⁸ Go now, write it on a tablet for them,

inscribe it on a scroll,

that for the days to come

it may be an everlasting witness.

⁹ These are rebellious people, deceitful children,

children unwilling to listen to the LORD's instruction.

¹⁰ They say to the seers,

"See no more visions!"

and to the prophets,

"Give us no more visions of what is right!

Tell us pleasant things,

prophesy illusions.

¹¹ Leave this way,

get off this path,

and stop confronting us

with the Holy One of Israel!"

¹² Therefore, this is what the Holy One of Israel says:

"Because you have rejected this message,

relied on oppression

and depended on deceit,

¹³ this sin will become for you

like a high wall, cracked and bulging,

that collapses suddenly, in an instant.

¹⁴ It will break in pieces like pottery,

shattered so mercilessly

that among its pieces not a fragment will be found

for taking coals from a hearth

or scooping water out of a cistern."

¹⁵ This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says:

"In repentance and rest is your salvation,

in quietness and trust is your strength,

but you would have none of it….

(skipped down to verse 18)

¹⁸ Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you;

he rises to show you compassion.

For the LORD is a God of justice.

Blessed are all who wait for him!

¹⁹ O people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you. ²⁰ Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. ²¹ Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it." ²² Then you will defile your idols overlaid with silver and your images covered with gold; you will throw them away like a menstrual cloth and say to them, "Away with you!"

I’m not a professor of theology, but in my humble opinion the relevance of Isaiah’s prophetic pronouncements seems to hit very close to the mark of where our nation is today.

But God is Everlasting and He will always provide a way out and a way through.

Even thought the people of Israel had turned from Him and sinned in the most horrible way possible God did not turn His back on them.

He longed for their return, He longed to be compassionate to them, to be gracious to them.

He patiently waited for their return to the right path.

God does not change.

That is the truth.

For those on the right path, the task at hand is to continue to pray for everyone to have the ears to hear God's voice saying, "This is the way; walk in it."

Blessings

Robin