Words of Wisdom #271: More Woes To Warn Us About Living Our Lies
Woe to those who drag wickedness with cords of deceit and [pull] sin along with cart ropes, to those who say: “Let Him hurry up and do His work quickly so that we can see it! Let the plan of the Holy One of Israel take place so that we can know it!” Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness, who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Woe to those who are wise in their own opinion and clever in their own sight. Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine, who are fearless at mixing beer, who acquit the guilty for a bribe and deprive he innocent of justice. Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes straw and as dry grass shrivels on the flame, so their roots will become like something rotten and their blossoms will blow away like dust, for they have rejected the instruction of the Lord of Hosts, and they have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. Therefore the Lord’s anger burns against His people. He raised His hand against them and struck them; the mountains quaked, and their corpses were like garbage in the streets. In all this, His anger is not removed, and His hand is still raised [to strike]. He raises a signal flag for the distant nations and whistles for them from the ends of the earth. Look—how quickly and swiftly they come! None of them grows weary or stumbles; no slumbers or sleeps. No belt is loose, and no sandal strap broken. Their arrows are sharpened, and all their bows strung. Their horses’ hooves are like flint; their [chariot] wheels are like a whirlwind. Their roaring is like a lion’s; they roar like young lions; they growl and seize their prey and carry [it] off, and no one can rescue [it]. On that day they will roar over it, like the roaring of the sea. When one looks at the land, there will be darkness and distress; light will be obscured by clouds. Isaiah 5:18-30 (HCSB)
This passage is a continuation on the warning of the misbehavior that comes in the form of woes from the Lord. However, this is the climax of the warning that the Lord gives us with the gory details of the action He can take in our lives if we continue to ignore the warnings He places in our lives. If we continue to deceive ourselves and the people around us, we will stand in His judgment and face the wrath He will place in our lives.
Who do you know who has grabbed a hold of the cords of deceit as the stronghold of their lives: they call evil good, and dismiss good as evil! These are the same that wait to darkness to expose their evil ways, and hide in the light of day. They thirst for beer and wine and brag upon their feats under its influence. It is the same perversion that leads them to idolize the wicked and guilty, and likewise find fault in the innocent. Ignorance of the Lord will not be their excuse, because the Lord is their Creator as mush as He is our Creator, and the creation of the Creator always can recognize Him. However, the Creator may reject His creation as he or she exists and He has the right to try and redirect or adjust the behavior of the creation back to the ways of justice and righteousness – or ways pleasing to God. God, the Creator, will use whatever means needed to do this, and it may come in the form of times of serious trials and tribulation, such as attacks from even more evil people to serve His purpose. Israel flaunted their selfish and hedonistic ways and the Lord directed the ruthless armies of Assyria upon them, and ten of the twelve tribes of Israel in their Kingdom were conquered and exiled into extinction. Only a remnant of faithful survived this period of terror. For the rest, the survivors were sent into exile and intermarried with the wicked in the land and were never heard from again.
In our lives, if we rebel against God’s will, God’s ways, and God’s wisdom according to God’s Word, there will be challenges in our future. It will be our Creator’s effort to catch our attention to warn us about the real eternal consequence for continuing to live the lies that pervert truth, goodness, and justice. We cannot call His name, yet choose to live in opposition to what His name represents – that is the unforgiveable lifestyle that will not go unpunished.
God loves us and desires to do everything possible to clutch us and call us one of His own, but you and I must stop living the lie and place our faith in Him and trust Him, and accept His love. Because where there genuine love exists, lies cannot reside!
Coach
www.coachbrown.org
He then said to the crowds who came out to be baptized by him, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Therefore produce fruit consistent with repentance. And don’t start saying to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones! Even now the ax is ready to strike the root of the trees! Therefore every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” Luke 3:7-9 (HCSB)