Are We Becoming More Foolish?
Here I am studying Isaiah 29 and getting ready for an Adult Sunday School class on Mother's Day. No, the topic is not about Mothers but about being wise when it comes to dealing with God. Because Israel declined to follow God's leading through its' prophets the Lord let them fall into error. Verse 9 indicates that Judah would be full of error and be in darkness about the truth. Verses 10-12 indicate that Israel would have a spirit of blindness, stupidity, and ignorance of the revelation that the Lord had granted to them. In verse 13, Judah would become a nation of hypocrites, offering God only lip service with their hearts far from Him. In other words, when the Lord pulls back, we fall into foolishness. Why? Because we don't have truth to fall back on. This seems to be what is happening in our country today. Proverbs 1:24-31 states:
24 "Because I called and you refused, I stretched out my hand and no one paid attention ; 25 And you neglected all my counsel And did not want my reproof ; 26 I will also laugh at your calamity ; I will mock when your dread comes, 27 When your dread comes like a storm And your calamity comes like a whirlwind, When distress and anguish come upon you. 28 "Then they will call on me, but I will not answer ; They will seek me diligently but they will not find me, 29 Because they hated knowledge And did not choose the fear of the LORD. 30 "They would not accept my counsel, They spurned all my reproof. 31 "So they shall eat of the fruit of their own way And be satiated with their own devices.
Notice that going your own way is not necessarily a good thing. We in the United States talk about "One Nation Under God" but do we only do Him lip service? Is He just a God that we go to when we are in trouble? It would seem that Congress and the President have forgotten the basic tenants on which this country was built. We have pushed the Lord out of our schools and out of our public places. Yet we still call ourselves a nation that He continually blesses. I don't think we realize what is happening here. It used to be in this country that we followed laws that the Lord first gave to Israel: no stealing, no lying, no bearing false witness, etc. But we have pushed that aside and become a nation looking out for "number one", ourselves. What happened to our nation? Is the Lord pulling back His hand from us? It would seem so. And if He pulls back His hand we will fall into the same problems that are found in Isaiah 29. We will not know what to do when the time comes for us to do the right thing.
24 "Because I called and you refused, I stretched out my hand and no one paid attention ; 25 And you neglected all my counsel And did not want my reproof ; 26 I will also laugh at your calamity ; I will mock when your dread comes, 27 When your dread comes like a storm And your calamity comes like a whirlwind, When distress and anguish come upon you. 28 "Then they will call on me, but I will not answer ; They will seek me diligently but they will not find me, 29 Because they hated knowledge And did not choose the fear of the LORD. 30 "They would not accept my counsel, They spurned all my reproof. 31 "So they shall eat of the fruit of their own way And be satiated with their own devices.
Notice that going your own way is not necessarily a good thing. We in the United States talk about "One Nation Under God" but do we only do Him lip service? Is He just a God that we go to when we are in trouble? It would seem that Congress and the President have forgotten the basic tenants on which this country was built. We have pushed the Lord out of our schools and out of our public places. Yet we still call ourselves a nation that He continually blesses. I don't think we realize what is happening here. It used to be in this country that we followed laws that the Lord first gave to Israel: no stealing, no lying, no bearing false witness, etc. But we have pushed that aside and become a nation looking out for "number one", ourselves. What happened to our nation? Is the Lord pulling back His hand from us? It would seem so. And if He pulls back His hand we will fall into the same problems that are found in Isaiah 29. We will not know what to do when the time comes for us to do the right thing.