As I have been attempting to read through Isaiah without the assistance of my "preconception" goggles, I have been noticing things I haven't seen before. I suppose that makes the kind of sense that registers pretty high on the "Well Duh!" scale. If you are looking for specific things in a reading, than those are the things you are most likely to see; those things and probably not much else.
It seems that over and over again throughout Isaiah, God expresses His deep disdain for a self advancing or self preserving mind set.
Excerpts from Isaiah 5:
Woe to those who join house to house,
who add field to field,
until there is no more room,
and you are made to dwell alone
in the midst of the land...
Woe to those who rise early in the
morning,
that they may run after strong drink,
who tarry late into the evening
as wine inflames them!...
Woe to those who call evil good
and good evil,
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter!
Woe to those who are wise in their own
eyes,
and shrewd in their own sight!
Woe to those who are heroes at drinking
wine,
and valiant men in mixing strong
drink,
who acquit the guilty for a bribe,
and deprive the innocent of his right!...
I don't think I'm simplifying this too much when I begin to see a pattern emerge here. When I begin to lift myself up, my own:
needs
desires
care
security
safety
advancement
wealth
entertainment
prosperity
quality of life
etc, etc, etc...
then what I am not engaged in is exalting God or caring for my neighbor, my fellow man. And this is what God despises.
Jesus Himself boiled it down beautifully in Mark 12 when asked what He believed to be the greatest commandment, "...you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these."
So what is God's response to pursuits of exalting myself? Back to Isaiah 5:
Surely many houses shall be desolate,
large and beautiful houses, without
inhabitant.
For ten acres of vineyard shall yield but
one bath (about 6 gallons),
and a homer of seed shall yield but an
ephah (about 3/5 bushels)...
Man is humbled, and each one is
brought low,
and the eyes of the haughty are
brought low...
...and nomads shall eat among the ruins
of the rich.
God will not settle for playing second to anything. Throughout Exodus and Deuteronomy and Joel and Zechariah we see references to God being jealous.
Jealous?
Isn't jealousy petty, something we look down on as weakness based in insecurity in our society today?
In this context it simply means that God will not stand for anything or anyone taking His place. Why? Because of His insatiable love for us.
We were created for relationship with Him. It is how we are intended to function. To settle for anything less is to damage our soul, our very being. It is to settle for being less than human. God will not stand for that. He will not stand idly by while we destroy ourselves. He will never agree to be second, or worse, in our lives. He is jealous. And so love reigns supreme. God's desire, when we boil it down, is that we love Him with all our heart, mind, soul and strength, our entire being, and we love our neighbor, our fellow man, as ourselves. Again, Isaiah 5:
But the Lord of hosts is exalted in
justice,
and the Holy God shows Himself holy
in righteousness.
Justice and righteousness. Justice being in our right living with mankind and righteousness being in our right living with God. Both of which are the polar opposite to living for myself.
I can't help but wonder what our communities might begin to look like were justice and righteousness to be the order of the day. Where God is exalted and where my neighbor has no need. Would that be a safe place to be?
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