SCRIPTURE: Isaiah 47
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
I was angry with my people and desecrated my inheritance; I gave them into your hand, and you showed them no mercy. Even on the aged you laid a very heavy yoke. [Isaiah 47:6]
This passage describes how God uses a foreign power to punish His people for their sin, but that power goes overboard in how it ravages the people and the land; therefore God will punish them too.
God uses them for His purpose, but still punishes them for their sin.
God does not make people sin, but He uses sinful peoples’ choices for to His own end.
The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born. [Mark 14:21]
God knew what Judas would do, He did not make Judas betray Jesus.
The expression “better for him if he had not been born” is not Jesus’ way of saying, ‘We’ll get even with him!’
Jesus is simply pointing out what happens to anyone who rejects God and His way of help.
It’s like telling a person who refuses to take medication for a ravaging illness that they will one day regret it; the misery is not punishment for refusing, it is the natural consequence of not accepting the cure.
Israel’s suffering was not an arbitrary punishment from God, it was the natural result of trying to live without God.
Babylon’s eventual collapse was not God being unfair to them for doing what God wanted them to do, it is the natural outcome for those who commit horrible crimes.
Judas’ despair after betraying Jesus was not God’s revenge, but the natural consequence of rejecting God’s hope.
God is not being unfair when He uses our sinful actions to fulfill His purpose, then punishes us for them.
If He is going to work with us, He has no choice but to use our sinful choices – because we constantly make them.
He also uses our good deeds and kindnesses, and blesses us for them.
We ought to be thankful that God has not abandoned us, but rather chooses to use us, and to give us the chance to make good choices with His help.
God wants to use our good deeds for good results, but if we choose otherwise, He will still turn our bad deeds to His good result.
Practically speaking, I need to take responsibility for my choices today.
God wants to use me to make a difference for good, will I give Him good stuff to work with?
He will use my bad choices as well, but He would rather use my good choices.
PRAYER:
Lord, I cannot choose the good without Your help. But I want to choose the good, I want my life and my choices to help and not harm others. May my actions today not elicit Your “woe” but Your blessing!