Week of 2/17-2/23: Scattered - The Rise and Fall of the Southern Kingdom

Day One: Isaiah 6:8-13 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying: Who should I send? Who will go for Us? I said: Here I am. Send me. And He replied: Go! Say to these people: Keep listening, but do not understand; keep looking, but do not perceive. Dull the minds of these people; [a] deafen their ears and blind their eyes; otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears, understand with their minds, turn back, and be healed. Then I said, “Until when, Lord?” And He replied: Until cities lie in ruins without inhabitants, houses are without people, the land is ruined and desolate, and the Lord drives the people far away, leaving great emptiness in the land. Though a tenth will remain in the land, it will be burned again. Like the terebinth or the oak, which leaves a stump when felled, the holy seed is the stump.

PARENTS CONSTANTLY GIVE WARNINGS. As a child, you never really like the warning because it always seems tied up with the idea of punishment. If you do this, then that is going to happen. What children often fail to realize, and usually do not until they are parents, is that the warnings are for their good. The warnings are intended to spare their children of unnecessary trouble or pain. They are trying to protect their children from unfavorable consequences resulting from poor decisions. The warnings of a parent are driven by a love for their child, not simply to provoke fear and to force good behavior.

God is a loving Father. Greater than any parent is the love of God for His children. Yet God gives warnings. In this text, Isaiah is sent by God to give a warning about the consequences of idolatry. If the people persist in idolatry, they will be laid to waste. Why does God give this warning? To terrify them? To cause disheartened obedience? No, He warns them because He loves them and He wants the best for them.

Likewise, He wants the best for us. We find in Scripture strong warnings against idolatry. Nothing is to be above God in our lives or affections. So God warns us. There will be consequences to putting God second to anything. These warnings are meant to instruct. God wants us to understand the love He has for us. This love can only be understood in the context of a proper relationship with Him.

Isaiah was sent to warn the people and God is still sending us today. He sends us to warn the world of the danger they are in and also point them to the Rescuer.

PAUSE AND REFLECT

▷▷What is idolatry?

▷▷Why does God take idolatry so seriously?

▷▷What can we do to avoid idolatry in our lives?