SCRIPTURE: Isaiah 13-20
It’s hard to make sense of this reading unless you know the background.
The 10 northern tribes of Israel (centred in Damascus) had separated from Judea and Benjamin (centred in Jerusalem).
Speaking from Jerusalem, Isaiah predicts the coming doom of their neighbours – Babylon, Philistia, Damascus, Egypt, Ethiopia (Cush) because of their arrogance, immorality and violence.
He even compares the king of Babylon to Satan (Isaiah 14:12-15; compare Ezekiel 28:12-19)
But he also reveals God’s ultimate dream, that all nations will belong to God’s family: “The Lord Almighty will bless them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance.” (Isaiah 19:23-25)
For the Jews, Isaiah’s warning is not to put their hope in their allies to the south (Egypt and Ethiopia), because they too will fall (Isaiah 20:5-6).
So what is God saying to me in this?
Don’t look jealously or hopefully to the powerful or rich or those who live immoral lives and get away with it… for their day is coming.
Though God wants them to be a part of His family, they need to be humbled first.
Stay true to God, committed to what honours God – humility, justice, mercy, faithfulness, compassion.
If we live God-like lives, we will rise up in the end; if we live God-less lives, we will crash.
A day is coming when God will set things straight… which side will my life be on?
What do you sense the Lord saying to you?
PRAYER
Lord, You invite us to join You in living like God. Help me to make my daily choices with a commitment to doing what is right and good. I choose God’s way, help me to live this way!