A sense of place
This week's study is on Isaiah 1:2-4:
These verses are from the prophet Isaiah, talking about Israel forgetting their place in the order of things, and the consequences of that confusion on their behavior. It is easy to be evil without realizing it if you think you're alone. In Isaiah's day, like in other times in history, people didn't realize their place in God's universe.
In Isaiah's prophesy, God is proclaiming to the heavens and earth that Israel has lost their way. Nobody wants to have their faults aired in public, but that's what it's come to in Isaiah's day. The world functions better when everything is in its place, and Israel (and mankind in general) was stubbornly out of place.
God compares it to children rebelling against their parents. The parents provide everything for their children: food, clothing, shelter, protection, even instruction and nurture. But all children go through a phase where they want to be independent and make their own choices. They forget that they are dependent on their parents for all of those things. Children have an independent will, but they are not independent in terms of their place in the family. They are part of something bigger and depend on the family for their needs. The family doesn't work when the kids live as though they were free to do as they like.
God also compares Israel to livestock. Livestock also have a place in society, and in the household. Back before petroleum, livestock were the farm machinery. Humans cared for the livestock, and the livestock did what the humans asked of them. Would the humans still feed, and house, and care for the livestock if they just did whatever they wanted? Things wouldn't work if the farm animals didn't know their place in the household.
And yet mankind, who were created by God, and nurtured and cared for by him, is completely unaware of its place in the universe. Like the rebellious children, mankind becomes wicked and wants to have its own way. We don't understand our place in the universe any more intuitively than a child understands his place in the family or a donkey understands his place in the household. And so we act out and become wicked.
But imagine how our behavior might change if we did have that understanding. Would we be so wasteful of resources? Would we be so unwilling to share with others? Would we be as disrespectful of others, or as brazen in our sin? Good behavior comes from knowing our place.
When Israel lost their sense of place, they became disrespectful, corrupt, and oblivious to the God they supposed to serve. Does that describe anyone today? They suffered for not knowing who they were in relation to God's universe. We don't want to make those same mistakes!
Take a moment and meditate on your place in God's universe. We are not God, but we are loved by him. We are below God, but still part of his plan. Does it really do us any good to live as though things were different than they are? It's good that we are who we are in relation to God. Our needs are provided for, and our lives are easier because of it.
Hear me, you heavens! Listen, earth!
For the Lord has spoken:
“I reared children and brought them up,
but they have rebelled against me.
The ox knows its master,
the donkey its owner’s manger,
but Israel does not know,
my people do not understand.”
Woe to the sinful nation,
a people whose guilt is great,
a brood of evildoers,
children given to corruption!
They have forsaken the Lord;
they have spurned the Holy One of Israel
and turned their backs on him.
These verses are from the prophet Isaiah, talking about Israel forgetting their place in the order of things, and the consequences of that confusion on their behavior. It is easy to be evil without realizing it if you think you're alone. In Isaiah's day, like in other times in history, people didn't realize their place in God's universe.
In Isaiah's prophesy, God is proclaiming to the heavens and earth that Israel has lost their way. Nobody wants to have their faults aired in public, but that's what it's come to in Isaiah's day. The world functions better when everything is in its place, and Israel (and mankind in general) was stubbornly out of place.
God compares it to children rebelling against their parents. The parents provide everything for their children: food, clothing, shelter, protection, even instruction and nurture. But all children go through a phase where they want to be independent and make their own choices. They forget that they are dependent on their parents for all of those things. Children have an independent will, but they are not independent in terms of their place in the family. They are part of something bigger and depend on the family for their needs. The family doesn't work when the kids live as though they were free to do as they like.
God also compares Israel to livestock. Livestock also have a place in society, and in the household. Back before petroleum, livestock were the farm machinery. Humans cared for the livestock, and the livestock did what the humans asked of them. Would the humans still feed, and house, and care for the livestock if they just did whatever they wanted? Things wouldn't work if the farm animals didn't know their place in the household.
And yet mankind, who were created by God, and nurtured and cared for by him, is completely unaware of its place in the universe. Like the rebellious children, mankind becomes wicked and wants to have its own way. We don't understand our place in the universe any more intuitively than a child understands his place in the family or a donkey understands his place in the household. And so we act out and become wicked.
But imagine how our behavior might change if we did have that understanding. Would we be so wasteful of resources? Would we be so unwilling to share with others? Would we be as disrespectful of others, or as brazen in our sin? Good behavior comes from knowing our place.
When Israel lost their sense of place, they became disrespectful, corrupt, and oblivious to the God they supposed to serve. Does that describe anyone today? They suffered for not knowing who they were in relation to God's universe. We don't want to make those same mistakes!
Take a moment and meditate on your place in God's universe. We are not God, but we are loved by him. We are below God, but still part of his plan. Does it really do us any good to live as though things were different than they are? It's good that we are who we are in relation to God. Our needs are provided for, and our lives are easier because of it.
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