The words of Isaiah teaching us of the wickedness of Judah and Jerusalem and what will happen as a result. Here are a few thoughts that floated through my head as I read these words.
The first was about how the Lord would cause them to be lead by wicked and oppressing men because of their wickedness. They would choose wicked men to lead them. As a nation becomes more wicked, meaning the wicked are in the majority, we see that they will choose wicked men to lead them. Sadly, wicked men oppress the people, even in a democracy. Typically they do more to put the people under greater and greater financial burden and debt. It seems as though for selfish desires.
In the middle of the chapter we read this phrase: "The Lord standeth up to plead, and standeth to judge the people." I think I like this phrase quite a bit. Mainly because I see in it that which we receive of the Lord. If we are humble and seek to follow Jesus, our Master, we hear and feel him pleading that we will do righteously, and that is the Merciful Jesus we want to know. For the prideful and the wicked he stands to judge us for he is a God of Justice. He cannot deny the justice of God.
The last portion of this chapter talks about all of the many things women might do to their bodies or where in the hopes of enhancing their beauty. But these are prideful and wicked measures and the Lord will bring about justice by having these things backfire on them. I think there is much that men and women can do to keep themselves clean and presentable, and to have the image and countenance that God would have us maintain. But these women want to be attractive by some crazy worldly standard and go to extremes that are inappropriate and displeasing before God. I keep thinking of a couple of weird examples. Women using botox to make their lips look bigger, then distorting their lips in such a way that they are grossly unattractive. The other is a story told by a friend some years back when he lived in Las Vegas. His neighbor was a stripper and had breast augmentation. This neighbor was doing something, tripped and fell and cut themselves in the chest to find out that their augmentation had become infected. What these women thought they were doing to make themselves more beautiful was actually a curse to them.
All of these words of Isaiah make me want to be more humble and seek with all of my heart His will.
The first was about how the Lord would cause them to be lead by wicked and oppressing men because of their wickedness. They would choose wicked men to lead them. As a nation becomes more wicked, meaning the wicked are in the majority, we see that they will choose wicked men to lead them. Sadly, wicked men oppress the people, even in a democracy. Typically they do more to put the people under greater and greater financial burden and debt. It seems as though for selfish desires.
In the middle of the chapter we read this phrase: "The Lord standeth up to plead, and standeth to judge the people." I think I like this phrase quite a bit. Mainly because I see in it that which we receive of the Lord. If we are humble and seek to follow Jesus, our Master, we hear and feel him pleading that we will do righteously, and that is the Merciful Jesus we want to know. For the prideful and the wicked he stands to judge us for he is a God of Justice. He cannot deny the justice of God.
The last portion of this chapter talks about all of the many things women might do to their bodies or where in the hopes of enhancing their beauty. But these are prideful and wicked measures and the Lord will bring about justice by having these things backfire on them. I think there is much that men and women can do to keep themselves clean and presentable, and to have the image and countenance that God would have us maintain. But these women want to be attractive by some crazy worldly standard and go to extremes that are inappropriate and displeasing before God. I keep thinking of a couple of weird examples. Women using botox to make their lips look bigger, then distorting their lips in such a way that they are grossly unattractive. The other is a story told by a friend some years back when he lived in Las Vegas. His neighbor was a stripper and had breast augmentation. This neighbor was doing something, tripped and fell and cut themselves in the chest to find out that their augmentation had become infected. What these women thought they were doing to make themselves more beautiful was actually a curse to them.
All of these words of Isaiah make me want to be more humble and seek with all of my heart His will.
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