Today, I am reading and commenting on  Isaiah 26-28.

I knew from my first reading of this passage today what I wanted to touch on as I wrote this, but I was not quite sure how to put it together.  Isaiah tells us that all people learn righteousness when God’s judgement comes, but the wicked do not learn righteousness when He shows them grace.  They continue to do evil, failing to see God’s hand of judgement raised to strike.  Those who recognize that their only accomplishments were gifts from God turn to Him and weakly whisper a prayer.  Salvation does not come to the earth through our efforts.  Unfortunately, we live in a time when people think, just as they did in the days of Isaiah, that God’s rules are “do this, don’t do that” rather than recognize His call for us to use our judgement in how to love others.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Isaiah 26-28.

Well, let’s see if I can write this so that it comes together the way I understand it in my head.  Isaiah writes that we should trust in the Lord forever because God is the eternal Rock.  Which reminds me of a conversation I had recently.  A friend of mine described a boulder he has in his lawn.  That boulder is there because when his house was built, the builders excavated it from where they put the foundation.  Ordinarily, the builders would have broken up a rock found like this, but this particular rock was extraordinarily hard so they chose not to make that effort.  The prophet was thinking of rocks like that one when he wrote this, rocks so hard that no one could break them up.  In this world, all rocks can be broken if we are willing to put in the effort and have the correct tools.  But not the eternal Rock which is God.  After telling us that we can rely on the eternal, unbreakable Rock which is God, Isaiah gives us another metaphor.  If we walk in God’s commands our path will be level and smooth.  Here I am reminded of the comparison between urban bicycle paths and mountain hiking trails.  Hiking trails are typically neither smooth nor level, with rocks that must be navigated around and rough patches, perhaps even fallen branches which must be climbed over.  Whereas, urban bicycle paths are typically smooth asphalt or cement following level ground.  These two aspects of relying on God, His unbreakable reliability and the ease of living according to His will, led the prophet to desire God.  If we truly understand what the prophet says here, we will likewise yearn for God and His righteousness such that we will agree that all we have accomplished was done by God for us.

So, that did not go quite where I thought it would.  Let’s see if I can wrestle it around to the rest of what I want to write about today.

If you are reading this, I imagine that, like me, you desire to put your trust in the Eternal Rock and walk the smooth paths of righteousness.  Yet, for all of my desire to do God’s will, one look at society around us and we realize that we have failed to bring God’s salvation to the earth, we have failed to bring people to the life offered by God.  And the prophet uses yet another metaphor, that of a fruitful vineyard, but one overrun with briers and thorns.  God will bring His fire against those briers and thorns, burning them up…unless they come to Him for refuge and make peace with Him.  Oh, let us make peace with Him so that we may offer that peace to those around us, those who think they have found a refuge in lies.  They claim they are doing what is right because they follow the rules to the letter, but not the spirit (let alone The Spirit).  In fact, they make new rules to follow…don’t use certain words because evil people used those words, don’t do certain things because evil people did those things.  They replace the rules which God put in place with these new rules and say that thus they can avoid sinning.  But God says that He will sweep away their refuge of lies.  God has built a refuge with the straight lines of justice and righteousness.  Let us shelter there and call those currently sheltering in the lies of this world to join us.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Isaiah 26-28.  I want to note for any of you who come to this from the links that I post on social media sites (FaceBook, Gab.com, and MeWe. com) that I will be going on vacation from July 31-August 9 and may not be able to post my links to those sites during that time.  I will, however have written the blogs for those dates and scheduled them to be posted.  So, please continue to visit my site to read my daily devotional.

Once again as I begin to write I am not sure how the things I want to write about will tie together.  Isaiah begins today’s passage by telling us that God will provide a safe place for those who steadfastly put their trust in Him.  He will keep them in perfect peace.  However, all too often we rest in that peace He gives us and fail to bring God’s salvation to others on this earth.  It is important that we bring God’s message of salvation to the people we love who have not heard it because God is going to punish the people of the earth for their sins.

Which brings me to what Isaiah wrote in chapter 28.  When people do not truly listen to God’s commands, those commands become “Do this, don’t do that.”  People begin to see them as a bunch of rules to be followed instead of being about loving God and others.  Some people even think they have found loopholes which allow them to mistreat others because the “rules” do not specify that what they are doing is wrong.  Then they come to the point where they believe that they can protect themselves with lies and falsehood.  We have come to that point in our society.  Many powerful people (and many not-so-powerful people) have decided that truth can be whatever they say it is and if they can prevent people from hearing anything different, it will become the truth.  Isaiah has a warning for them.  God has established the truth.  Those who think that they can replace God’s truth with their own will discover it swept aside when the scourge of God’s judgement sweeps through.  They have built their mansions and fortresses on sand and when the storm of God’s judgement arrive they will be swept away.  Perhaps a better analogy would be the hillsides of Southern California. God has laid a solid stone of truth for us to build upon and given us justice and righteousness to use as the tools to build upon it.

Which brings us back to the first part of this blog: put your trust in God’s truth, measure your life with justice,  and line it up with righteousness .  This is going longer than I usually want, but I think this is important.  A lot of people today speak about the importance of justice, but they do not see the other two parts that must be present.  You must start with truth.  You cannot build a just society on a lie.  However, justice built on truth is not enough.  A stable society (even one of a group which associate together voluntarily) must be lined up with righteousness.  I do not feel like I have worded this quite right, but I trust that if you read the passage the Holy Spirit will show you what I am trying to say (or, perhaps, what I should be trying to say).

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Isaiah 26-28.

As I read today’s passage I found myself thinking that I would have trouble writing today’s blog because it seemed so focused on the Israel and Judah of Isaiah’s time.  Then I came to this:

“Who does the Lord think we are?” they ask. “Why does he speak to us like this? Are we little children, just recently weaned? He tells us everything over and over— one line at a time, one line at a time, a little here, and a little there!”

The prophet followed that up by saying that as a result God had to speak to them through foreign oppressors.  God had given us a message of peace and rest, but we would not listen, so he had to spell it out for us again, as one does for young children.  This makes me think of those who dismiss the Bible because they claim its moral code is too simplistic, that things are not as “black and white” as the Bible portrays.  Those that come after them discover that the more “complex” moral code they sought to implement relied on God’s “simplistic” one.

Isaiah goes on to address the elites who think that they have a way to avoid the destruction which they themselves are fomenting.  They think that they can fool people and events with their lies and deception.  The elites have made a deal which they think will protect them from the chaos.  They think they can harness that chaos and destruction for their own benefit.  God has canceled their deal, or, more precisely, He will reveal that a deal based on lies and deception is not really a deal in the first place.  The elites will discover that when you reject the foundation of law and justice there is no justice, or even safety, to be found anywhere.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Isaiah 26-28.

Despite the kindness which God showers on all mankind, the wicked do not learn to do good.  They claim they do not understand God’s commands and at the same time complain because He spells it out line by line, a little at a time.  So, God indeed does spell it out for them line by line, a little at a time.  Instead of listening and modifying their behavior, the wicked stumble over His instructions and fall.  God has placed a foundation in Jesus and measures us against Him.  He has given us the measuring line of justice to show us how far we are from Him, and the plumb-line of righteousness to show us how far we are from straight.  God offers us the walls of His salvation for those who put their trust in Him.