Stuffed With Things

Good morning!

I've continued to read in the first 5 chapters of Isaiah this morning, and it has been pretty depressing.

Isaiah lived at a time when the land of Israel was in open rebellion against God.  The people were flagrant about it.  Israel was living in comfort in the Promised Land.  They were "worshipping" in Solomon's temple.  They were enjoying the blessings of God.

However, they were also worshipping idols.  Some of those false gods were the gods of the pagan peoples that surrounded them.  But, in other cases, what they were worshipping were gods of their own creation.  Listen to what the Message translation says in Isaiah 2:6-8:  (Isaiah is speaking to God.)

"GOD, you've walked out on your family Jacob

because their world is full of hokey religion,

Philistine witchcraft, and pagan hocus pocus,

A world rolling in wealth

Stuffed with things,

no end to its machines and gadgets,

And gods - - - gods of all sorts and sizes.

These people make their own gods and worship what they make."

Are we a gadget-driven society today?  You betcha.  Do we sometimes make them "gods" to ourselves, allowing them to pollute our souls and draw us away from God?  Surely do.

This is something all Christians need to be vigilant about, including me.  It is so easy to let ourselves become distracted by "things", whether they are basically good things, bad things, or downright horrible things.  Even the good things can become distractions in our lives.

Some of my friends have realized the hold that material things have taken in their own lives and said, "Wait a minute.  I've got to get hold of myself and rein this thing in.  It is out of control!"  I applaud them for that.  

The opposite reaction is to justify our own idolatry.  One of Satan's biggest tools is to use things, people, events, to distract us from our relationship with God and His calling on our lives.  He can take a good thing and warp it to serve his own nefarious purposes.  He also can take truth and mix error with it, still calling it truth.  What a lie!  God addresses that in these chapters multiple times, but quite poignantly in 5:20 - - 

Doom to you who call evil good and good evil

Who put darkness in place of light

And light in place of darkness

Who substitute bitter for sweet

And sweet for bitter.

God is reminding us that we don't "pull anything over on Him" when we try to convince ourselves that wrong is right.  This is called "rationalization".  We are able to come up with all kinds of ways to justify our bad habits, right?  So easy to do!  So wrong. ( Let's be sure to call Truth truth and Error error in our personal lives and in our interpersonal interactions with others.  No backing off from Truth!)

This is what the nation of Israel was doing in that day.  God kept telling them, in Isaiah's first 5 chapters, that He was going to judge them.  And, He did.  Isaiah was a prophet in the days preceding the Babylonian conquest, where Nebuchadnezzar hauled the greatest majority of the people (especially the young, healthy and able to work) off to Babylon as captives.  God said in 5:5-6 that He would make Jerusalem a wasteland, in His righteous judgment of Israel.  And, He did.

God didn't let Israel get by with this behavior.  He won't let America get by with this behavior.  He won't let His children get by with this behavior.  

These chapters have a double-meaning.  They also refer to the day when Jesus will return, conquer all evil regimes on the earth, and set up His kingdom on earth for 1000 years.  This end-times judgment is described in chapter 2 and His millennial reign is described in the latter part of chapter 4.  What a joyful future we have in Christ!  We will be there - - - His saints, ruling and reigning with Him!

Tomorrow, we will look at Isaiah's vision in chapter 6. That should be interesting!

Good morning, Lord!  Please keep me from idolatry, the sneaky kind that worms its way into my life masquerading or starting out as something good.  When You confront me with my idolatry, I pray for Your strength to face it, not rationalize it, and then take the necessary steps to eradicate it, to tear it down, and return to You.  In Jesus' name, amen.