Stubborn, some might say. Set on livin’ their dreams, even when those dreams sometimes take a turn more akin to nightmares.”
–Wayne D. Dundee (Dismal River)
“From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but bruises and sores and raw wounds; they are not pressed out or bound up or softened with oil.”
–Isaiah 1:6 (ESV)
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“Alas, sinful nation, A people laden with iniquity, A brood of evildoers, Children who are corrupters! They have forsaken the Lord, They have provoked to anger The Holy One of Israel, They have turned away backward.” –Isaiah 1:4 (NKJV)
“Doom! Sinful nation, people weighed down with crimes, evildoing offspring, corrupt children! They have abandoned the Lord, despised the holy one of Israel; they turned their backs on God.” –Isaiah 1:4 (CEB)
Read those verses a couple of times. The NIV translates the first word as “Woe.” Woe to us if we do not recognize the meaning when God uses this term. I am borrowing heavily from Ray Stedman this morning. The words that he writes regarding this Scripture, the condition of Israel at the time, and thus we can easily take it and apply it to our country and our individual lives.
“Every breath we breathe is by the mercy of God. Everything comes from His providing hand. But man ignores and turns his back upon all that, and then goes about saying that only man matters. That is incredible blindness.” (Ray Stedman) Let’s view this verse a little closer, bring it home. Israel is infected with sin, a fatal virus. If we thought COVID or polio or smallpox was bad–sin is much more terrible for it not only destroys lives and nations, but also destroys souls. People try to disregard sin as archaic, old-fashioned, but it is real. “There is a taint, a poison, spread throughout the whole human world, that causes even our efforts toward good to merely create new problems.” (Stedman) We want our way–self-centeredness, selfishness.
Sin brings a heavy burden, not only upon the individual, but also upon a nation. Just look at the problems our country is facing and it has divided the nation, the creation of another problem. The burden is heavy–child abuse, domestic violence, divorce, human-trafficking, drugs, abortion, and on the list goes. People think they have the solution, and they do if they turn to Christ. But instead they think that man is all-knowing and can solve the problems that come about because of sin.
We bow to the steel monoliths, the technological advances and say, “Look at us! Aren’t we something!” and we cannot come to an agreement that sin is the problem. Man is unable to solve the problems that are caused by sin. We see in the verse above that man passes on “their evil tendencies to the next generation.” (Stedman) Stedman continues to say, “There is a strange conspiracy, prevalent in politics and education, to keep God out on the fringes of life, to never mention His name or acknowledge His presence. Any effort to insert Him into public affairs meets with tremendous resistance. People have turned their backs on the living God, and do not like to acknowledge that He has any part in human affairs.”
Resisting God, rebelling against His laws and commandments, and forsaking His name and will have caused them to actually blaspheme the King of heaven. Man has spurned and abandoned, even to the point of despising Him. Isaiah says that “they turned their backs on God.” “People are alienated from God and therefore from each other. History confirms that when you lose God, you lose man as well.” (Stedman)
Verse 5 shows the utter foolishness–the stupidity of mankind. “Why do you invite further beatings? Why continue to rebel? Everyone’s head throbs, and everyone’s heart fails.” (1:5, CEB) How many times does God have to strike us to get our attention. I used the illustration many times: A person runs as hard as he can to get out of the room and smashes into the wall, knocking himself silly (more silly). He gets up, moves slowly back across the room and runs again, smashing into the wall. We who are watching are perplexed at what is taking place, as is God who watches our silly actions against Him. The man pulls himself together, gets ready to run, when someone taps him on the shoulder and suggests, “Why not try the door?” What a suggestion! What a solution! Then why do we not turn back to God? What a solution! We have turned our backs on the Lord; sooner or later, He will turn His back on us.
———————————-
“Alas, sinful nation, A people laden with iniquity, A brood of evildoers, Children who are corrupters! They have forsaken the Lord, They have provoked to anger The Holy One of Israel, They have turned away backward.” –Isaiah 1:4 (NKJV)
“Doom! Sinful nation, people weighed down with crimes, evildoing offspring, corrupt children! They have abandoned the Lord, despised the holy one of Israel; they turned their backs on God.” –Isaiah 1:4 (CEB)
Read those verses a couple of times. The NIV translates the first word as “Woe.” Woe to us if we do not recognize the meaning when God uses this term. I am borrowing heavily from Ray Stedman this morning. The words that he writes regarding this Scripture, the condition of Israel at the time, and thus we can easily take it and apply it to our country and our individual lives.
“Every breath we breathe is by the mercy of God. Everything comes from His providing hand. But man ignores and turns his back upon all that, and then goes about saying that only man matters. That is incredible blindness.” (Ray Stedman) Let’s view this verse a little closer, bring it home. Israel is infected with sin, a fatal virus. If we thought COVID or polio or smallpox was bad–sin is much more terrible for it not only destroys lives and nations, but also destroys souls. People try to disregard sin as archaic, old-fashioned, but it is real. “There is a taint, a poison, spread throughout the whole human world, that causes even our efforts toward good to merely create new problems.” (Stedman) We want our way–self-centeredness, selfishness.
Sin brings a heavy burden, not only upon the individual, but also upon a nation. Just look at the problems our country is facing and it has divided the nation, the creation of another problem. The burden is heavy–child abuse, domestic violence, divorce, human-trafficking, drugs, abortion, and on the list goes. People think they have the solution, and they do if they turn to Christ. But instead they think that man is all-knowing and can solve the problems that come about because of sin.
We bow to the steel monoliths, the technological advances and say, “Look at us! Aren’t we something!” and we cannot come to an agreement that sin is the problem. Man is unable to solve the problems that are caused by sin. We see in the verse above that man passes on “their evil tendencies to the next generation.” (Stedman) Stedman continues to say, “There is a strange conspiracy, prevalent in politics and education, to keep God out on the fringes of life, to never mention His name or acknowledge His presence. Any effort to insert Him into public affairs meets with tremendous resistance. People have turned their backs on the living God, and do not like to acknowledge that He has any part in human affairs.”
Resisting God, rebelling against His laws and commandments, and forsaking His name and will have caused them to actually blaspheme the King of heaven. Man has spurned and abandoned, even to the point of despising Him. Isaiah says that “they turned their backs on God.” “People are alienated from God and therefore from each other. History confirms that when you lose God, you lose man as well.” (Stedman)
Verse 5 shows the utter foolishness–the stupidity of mankind. “Why do you invite further beatings? Why continue to rebel? Everyone’s head throbs, and everyone’s heart fails.” (1:5, CEB) How many times does God have to strike us to get our attention. I used the illustration many times: A person runs as hard as he can to get out of the room and smashes into the wall, knocking himself silly (more silly). He gets up, moves slowly back across the room and runs again, smashing into the wall. We who are watching are perplexed at what is taking place, as is God who watches our silly actions against Him. The man pulls himself together, gets ready to run, when someone taps him on the shoulder and suggests, “Why not try the door?” What a suggestion! What a solution! Then why do we not turn back to God? What a solution! We have turned our backs on the Lord; sooner or later, He will turn His back on us.