If he is a man, he will stand up for what he knows is right.”
                    –Samuel Ben White  (Guthrie’s Cowboy)

       “Every day brings God’s salvation nearer. The night is nearly over, the day has almost dawned. Let us therefore fling away the things that men do in the dark, let us arm ourselves for the fight of the day! Let us live cleanly, as in the daylight…”
                    –Romans 13:11-13(Phillips)
———————————
To review, the first woe was against materialism, the second against the lust for pleasure.  Now we come to the third woe of Isaiah 5:

          “Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as if with a cart rope; that they say, ‘Let Him make speed and hasten His work, that we may see it; and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come, that we may know it.'” (5:18-19, NKJV)
          “Destruction is certain for those who drag their sins behind them, tied with cords of falsehood.  They even mock the Holy One of Israel and say, ‘Hurry up and do something!  Quick, show us what you can do.  We want to see what you have planned.'” (5:18-19, NLT)

     Woe to those who willfully sin.  They sin purposefully; it is a deliberate action, one of defiance against God.  They do not sin because they were tempted, but because they delight in sin.  D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones says, “They were going out of their way to sin, they were making provision for it, preparing themselves for sin and going out deliberately in order to find it.”  The flesh is bad enough to fight against, but these “stalk sin” as I put it.  They want sin, they produce it, they encourage it.  We even hear it from the media and from leaders in government.  Paul tells us, “to make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.” (Romans 13:14, NKJV), but we see that these purposely are making provision for the flesh, in fact, even encouraging it.
     The term “draw” or “drag” indicates an out of deliberateness.  Israel had the law, the teachings of God, but their desire to sin was bad enough to overcome any law, moral code, or teaching.  They put aside any resistance to sin.  Know this, they were not ignorant of the truth, but “they were defying the great moral teaching of which they were heirs” (Lloyd-Jones).  Progressivism, cancel culture, WOKE — what are they but blatant, laughing, and mocking of the great heritage or moral righteousness that our country was founded upon.  We have a great heritage, but “we are drawing iniquity to ourselves.” (Lloyd-Jones)  The time in which we live we see the purposeful disregard of this heritage and the deliberate flaunting of sin.  
     Note also, the cord are vanity–worthless, hopeless, or as the NLT puts it “falsehood.”  No argument can hold up against the Word of God.  All they have is false and deceitful and delusional arguments.  Woe unto those people, for they are drawing sin with “cords that really are worthless.” (Lloyd-Jones)  We are warned in regard to this in Hebrews, “But exhort one another daily, while it is called ‘Today,’ lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” (3:13, NKJV)  Look at those on the news or social media–they actually believe they have the truth, their hearts being darkened to the truth of God’s Word.  Look at them as they goad others on and blatantly mock the Christian view.  “Sin never tells us a word about what we are to lose…  It takes from us the most precious things, and eventually leave us with the swine and the husks.” (Lloyd-Jones)
     These individuals grin and mock.  There is a complete absence of shame.  Ravi Zacharias tells us, “To remove shame is to perpetuate evil…  The loss of shame in a society is ultimately an attack upon all of civilization.”  We read the words of Jeremiah, “Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination?  No! They were not at all ashamed;
Nor did they know how to blush…” (6:15, NKJV)  As the woe continues, we see them urging one another along.  They begin to mock God and His Word.  They are saying, “Let God do what He has to do,” not in repentance, but spoken in contempt.  Verse 19, in the TLB, “They even mock the Holy One of Israel and dare the Lord to punish them.  ‘Hurry up and punish us, O Lord,’ they say. ‘We want to see what you can do!'”  They are brazenly mocking the warning of God.  One writer calls it “defiant bravado.”  Can you imagine–challenging God to do His worst?  Lloyd-Jones cries out, “Oh the blasphemy and the arrogance and the madness of men and women in sin!”  The day is coming when God’s judgment will be poured out.  When He has removed the dear saints of His Church, His wrath and judgment will be poured out on the earth, upon those who willfully mocked Him.  It will be so bad that they will pray for the rocks to fall upon them to hide them from His fierce countenance and judgment.  While, now–today–they could run to the Rock of their salvation.  Accepting Jesus and putting aside their sin.  Repent of their blasphemy and arrogance and fall at the feet of the One who shed His blood for their salvation.  Do it so that the “woe” of Isaiah is not yours.

It had become a place I could not leave alone, nor my quiet talks with her, nor the good coffee in the candlelight.”
                    –Louis L’Amour  (The First Fast Draw)

       “A wife of noble character who can find?  She is worth far more than rubies.”
                    –Proverbs 31:10 (NIV)
——————————–
          “And her hand was soft and trembly
          That night underneath the tree,
           When I couldn’t help but tell her
          She was ‘all the world to me.'”
                –Charles “Badger” Clark

Actually it was closer to midnight in the rain on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.  It was time, so I pulled over to a turnout on the road and there, sitting beside this wondrous gal, not on my knee, mind you, I asked the most important question of my life:  Will you marry me?  I was pretty sure of the answer, but one never knows.  I believed God was in it with me, as I received an affirmative answer.  Before I go on, I want to give you a little side-note, nothing of real pertience, but interesting.  Annie and I were married on the 11th, she was 22, this is our 55th anniversary, she is now 77.  See all the double figures?  No meaning, just fun to observe.
     The words of Proverbs 18:22, “He who finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor from the LORD.” (NKJV)  I like the CEV translation of this verse, “A man’s greatest treasure is his wife–she is a gift from the LORD.”  For sure He gave me a treasure that I could be with throughout my life.  In the good times, she was there, in the hard times I could count on her.  What a treasure, what a gift from God!  Here we are now in the fifty-fifth year of marriage.  Gone is our youth and vitality, but there is a stronger, firmer love that has grown through the years.
     I remember we started dating back in February of 1970.  If I remember right (and I do), there were only three days we weren’t together throughout that semester of college.  Then I had to head home, to work so I could come back the following semester.  Annie stayed for summer school.  Now mind you, this was in the primitive days before cell phones.  I’m not sure how many times we talked on the phone over the summer, maybe two or three times, but we wrote nearly every day.  Letters, you know…  We met in Wadsworth, Ohio, for a wedding in August, and it was when I was taking her home from that wedding that I proposed.  
     Fortunate?  Well I guess.  A God-send for certain.  It had to be God to know what I needed in life and He truly blessed me with a mate to see me/us through.  Plus, she can make a pie.  How many campfires we’ve shared, how many cups of coffee have we had together, how many miles have we traveled along life’s journey?  Two children, who love the Lord, four grandchildren who love the Lord–see I’m a wealthy man.
     Now, I hesitated to write personal things for my morning devotions, but I was reading a short devotion by James Merritt which he said, Share with at least one person this week what the Lord has done for you.  I reckoned that was confirmation.  Psalm 37:25, for sure is true when it says, “I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.” (NIV)  God is good!  He has always seen us through the good and bad times.  He has always provided for us, given us what we needed, and kept us safe and secure in our journey of life.  As Annie has been with me in sickness and in health, so has the Lord.  The nearness of her was a comfort in hard times, but even more so, I knew the Lord was near.  I am so thankful that I was taught to trust in Him at a very young age; to realize that He is in control, that nothing happens to me that hasn’t passed by Him.
     Fifty-five years (fifty-six if you counted dating) with my wife–Wow, what a treasure.  Now, sixty-seven years with the Lord–Wow, what a Friend, Savior, and Guide.  Don’t know how many are left, but each one will be a blessing.

Sometimes, at the darkest of times, hope was the only thing that pulled you through.”
                    –James Leonard  (The Sun Never Sets)

       “But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love…  We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield.”
                    –Psalm 33:18,20 (NIV)
——————————-
          “The hope of the righteous will be gladness, But the expectation of the wicked will perish.”  –Proverbs 10:28 (NKJV)
          “The prospect of the righteous is joy, but the hopes of the wicked come to nothing.”  –Proverbs 10:28 (NIV)
   
“Hope for the future is the fuel that drives every man and woman on earth.  Hope drives us on and spurs us to work hard, to go to school, to save, and to make plans for a better tomorrow.  Hope that sees only darkness and destitution ahead is no hope at all.” (Beasley)  Woe to that individual who has lost hope.  Woe to that person who has false hope; the person who has put their hope in idols whether it be materialism, humanism with its hedonistic pursuits, or false religions.  Woe to that person who dies without finding and accepting the hope that comes from faith in Christ Jesus.  Bob Beasley tells us, “True hope has at its basis a solid foundation, and it is at this point that the hope of the wicked and the hope of the righteous part company.”
     We, as believers in Jesus Christ, have a sure, solid foundation.  We have a living hope and a solid faith based on the Word of God.  The hope of the wicked is based on nothing eternal.  It might be put this way, their hope is based on wishes.  “He hopes for good things in this life, while all around him he smells the aroma of death.” (Beasley)  After death, there is no hope.
     I like what J.L. Flores says, “Hope is a fortune in itself.”  There is great wealth in true hope:  gladness (joy), peace, calmness, and assurance.  These are ours because of our hope in Christ.  The psalmist writes words of encouragement to those who falter, whose hope has dwindled. “Why are you downcast, O my soul?  Why so disturbed within me?  Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.” (42:5, NIV)  Paul writes, “For in this hope we were saved…”. (Romans 8:24, NIV)  The hope of our salvation is a sure thing.  Then the writer of Hebrews reminds us, “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure…”. (6:19, NIV)
     What hope do the wicked have?  Perdition will be their lot in eternity.  What expectation do they have except to join with the clods of the earth on death?  Their false hope that all ways lead to God will come to naught as it is but a delusion.  John Bunyan wrote, “All the hopes of the wicked shall not bring him to heaven…”  Any hope they may hold are false.  True hope is in Jesus Christ and the Word of God.
     One word of warning in closing.  We are instructed by Paul, “To live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the BLESSED HOPE–the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.” (Titus 2:12-13, caps mine)  There is currently an attack on the great hope that is ours (the Rapture), do not let it damper your hope.  Do not let it turn you from the truth and the hope that is yours.  Jesus is coming!  Take hope in that great fact and truth!