Today, I am reading and commenting on  Isaiah 29-31.

Isaiah warns us against paying lip service to obeying God while seeking loopholes in His commands.  All too often we think that if we obey the letter of God’s law we need not obey its spirit.   What we fail to understand is that the letter of God’s law is merely a human construction, which, at its best, is an attempt to help us understand how to do that which God desires of us.  We pretend to ourselves that God cannot see our intention to circumvent His desires.  We think that we know better than God what will bring us the greatest joy, forgetting that He made us and thus knows things about us that we will never comprehend, and other things about us that we can only begin to comprehend after we have chosen to do as He directs.  Isaiah warns us against making plans and forming alliances without looking to God for guidance and seeking His aid.  Isaiah warns us of those who will try to silence those whom God sends to speak His words to them, and he warns us not to be like them.

Those who reject God’s message end up relying on oppression and deceit.  Throughout this passage I keep seeing Isaiah talk about those who do things I see being done in our society today.  Isaiah speaks of the day when the deaf will hear and the blind will see, when the humble will rejoice in the Lord and the ruthless will disappear.  God will bring His judgement on those who use false testimony to make people out to be guilty.  We must strive to be among the humble who rejoice in the Lord, but be careful that we are not just saying the words without meaning them in our hearts.

“Because you have rejected this message,
    relied on oppression
    and depended on deceit,

Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help,…,
but do not look to the Holy One of Israel,
    or seek help from the Lord.

In a very short time, will not Lebanon be turned into a fertile field
    and the fertile field seem like a forest?
¹⁸ In that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll,
    and out of gloom and darkness
    the eyes of the blind will see.
¹⁹ Once more the humble will rejoice in the Lord;
    the needy will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
²⁰ The ruthless will vanish,
    the mockers will disappear,
    and all who have an eye for evil will be cut down—
²¹ those who with a word make someone out to be guilty,
    who ensnare the defender in court
    and with false testimony deprive the innocent of justice.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Isaiah 29-31.

I tried many different ways to reword this as a way to start writing about what this passage says to me today, but I kept coming back to thinking about this and whether the prophet was speaking about me:

These people come near to me with their mouth
    and honor me with their lips,
    but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship of me
    is based on merely human rules they have been taught.

I do not think he was, but we need to think about this and whether it applies to us.  Then we need to look at those to whom we listen and think about whether it applies to them.  This is why it is important to read the Scripture again and again for ourselves.  Otherwise it is nothing but words sealed in a scroll.

Indeed a little bit further on Isaiah goes on to tell us of whom he speaks.  He is talking about those who do what they know to be wrong while speaking words of righteousness, people who claim to care about others while secretly making plans to take advantage of them.  They loudly proclaim themselves faithful servants of the Lord while doing just the opposite.  They carry out plans which run contrary to what God has said should be.  They accuse those who speak God’s word of hatred and violence merely for proclaiming God’s word.  If we find ourselves one of such people, God is gracious, we need only cry out for His help and He will answer us.  We will hear a voice in our ears telling us the path He chooses for us.  Those are the directions we should follow.  That still, small voice saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”  Those who neither look to, nor seek help from, God will see their plans fail and experience eternal regret.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Isaiah 29-31. 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.

Early in today’s passage Isaiah says the following:

These people come near to me with their mouth
    and honor me with their lips,
    but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship of me
    is based on merely human rules they have been taught.

This is a continuation of the theme I talked about yesterday.  Isaiah goes on to say that they think they can hide their plans and thoughts from God.  They wish the benefits of appearing righteous without having to treat others with dignity and respect.  I say that as if all of those who do it realize what they are doing.  We must be careful not to fall into this trap.  Isaiah goes on to tell us that those who do the above will tell the prophets to stop telling them God’s word.  They will seek to silence those who tell the truth and seek salvation by earthly power.

Isaiah further tells us that the social structures they build will collapse suddenly similar to that condo collapse in Miami a few weeks ago.  Those who looked saw warning signs of imminent disaster, but for most it seemed strong and sound.  In the same way, those who create human rules of righteousness will build a society which seems to them strong and sound, but it will collapse upon them suddenly.  However, God will be waiting for those willing to return to Him.  Isaiah has a message for those who do so:

Your own ears will hear him.
    Right behind you a voice will say,
“This is the way you should go,”
    whether to the right or to the left.

I took the above from the New Living Translation because I think their wording conveys the sense of this verse most clearly.  Those who hear that Voice will throw away the idols they have made for themselves and be glad to be rid of them.

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 29-31.

Isaiah warns that sorrow will soon befall those who think that they can hide their evil plans from God,. They foolishly think that they can ignore God’s commands, but God is their Creator and can see what they think is hidden.  Further, Isaiah tells us that when God’s judgement comes on those people the deaf will hear and the blind will see.  It really seems to me that Isaiah is telling those in positions of power that the evil deeds which they think they have hidden away from the common people will soon be revealed.  The elites believe that they have hidden their crimes and evil actions from the common man so that they will never be exposed, but Isaiah tells us that such belief is foolish.  Their evil behavior is known to God, and He will reveal it for all of the world to see.

I am not sure what the connection is between this next section and the one I discussed in the previous paragraph.  Isaiah warns the people that sorrow awaits those who make plans contrary to God’s plans.  He refers to the alliance against Assyria which Judah entered into with Egypt, but such plans happen time and again through history.  Judah entered into that alliance without consulting God before doing so.  Isaiah tells them on behalf of God that they will get nothing in return for the gold they sent to Egypt.  I am reminded of the political alliance which politically active conservative Christians attempted to enter into with the Muslim community in the late 1990s.  Their logic was impeccable, but had two fatal flaws.  God does not call Christians to stop others from sinning.  He calls on them to be transformed by the Holy Spirit to stop sinning themselves, and then to witness to others how that transformation has made their lives better.  God does not desire for us to change people’s actions by changing the laws.  He calls on us to change people’s actions by transforming their hearts (or, more precisely, He calls on us to act as agents of His Holy Spirit, and He will transform their hearts).  Even today, too many Christians seek to change this country by changing its government instead of by transforming the hearts of its people.