13 And the Lord said:
“Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips,
while their hearts are far from me,
and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,
14 therefore, behold, I will again
do wonderful things with this people,
with wonder upon wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.”
15 Ah, you who hide deep from the LORD your counsel, whose deeds are in the dark,
and who say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?”
16 You turn things upside down!
Shall the potter be regarded as the clay,
that the thing made should say of its maker,
“He did not make me”; or the thing formed say of him who formed it, “He has no understanding”?
Isaiah is prophesying to Judah, the southern two tribes. He is warning them of the impending doom about to come upon them for their lack of faith and obedience to God, their Creator. In the above verses he is specifically calling out two types of mindsets.
1. Mindset #1 - Those who have an outward faith but are inwardly dead (vs. 13 and 14). If you read them again you see that they have all the right teaching. They are taught the commandments. But they lack an inward desire for God (vs 14). God’s response to that is to show them even more wonders (vs 15) because God is the God of wonders:
Isaiah 28:29 (ESV)
This also comes from the LORD of hosts;
he is wonderful in counsel
and excellent in wisdom.
2. Mindset #2 - Those who think they are so smart and wise that God does not see them and they “turn things upside down” (that sounds like our country, today). God, however, does see and does know their corruptness. This is the point of Isaiah’s prophecy.
Either mindset is contrary to God. We can have the right teaching but a corrupt heart. We can have a deceptive heart and think we can hide from God. But God is aware of both mindsets and calls them out via Isaiah’s words. These mindsets are the reason Judah will be taken captive and disciplined. We can’t live our lives as though honoring God with our lips is enough. We can’t live our lives as though ignoring God will work. God is actively seeking us and sees our hearts no matter which mindset we have. He wants to honor Him and behold His wonders with our hearts, souls and minds and behaviors.
No comments:
Post a Comment