The Book Of Isaiah. Day 140, A Warning Against Complacency

I apologize for there being no Bible study on Tuesday. I was so sick on Tuesday that I didn't even realize we hadn't done the Bible study until late last night. My husband had to have me at my medical group's walk-in clinic as soon as they opened at 7am because my throat was so inflamed and swollen that I couldn't even swallow a sip of water without crying. But thankfully I was prescribed some medicine that already has me on the mend and I'm very grateful for that.

Our next segment is a warning about the complacency of the women of Jerusalem. Although the Lord is not going to allow the city to fall to the Assyrian army, we learned in our study of the kings that the Assyrians made repeated forays into the land of Judah, disrupting the economy by preventing many people from going about their work and by destroying crops so that the people could not harvest them. This took its toll on the financial prosperity of the nation. Jerusalem will be exempt from falling to the enemy but its people will not be exempt from experiencing some of the hardships their fellow citizens are experiencing.

"You women who are so complacent, rise up and listen to me; you daughters who feel secure, hear what I have to say! In little more than a year you who feel secure will tremble; the grape harvest will fail, and the harvest of fruit will not come. Tremble, you complacent women; shudder, you daughters who feel secure! Strip off your fine clothes and wrap yourselves in rags." (Isaiah 32:9-11) 

As the capitol city, Jerusalem was the finest city in the nation and many of its citizens lived in economic comfort. The residences of the people in the king's service were there, as well as the shops and homes of tradespeople. It might have been easy for people living in comfort inside the fortified city walls to think that the troubles of their countrymen would not also come upon them, but what they need to do instead is take heed to the things happening in the various regions of Judah, the things happening in the northern kingdom of Israel, and the things happening in the nations around them. The troubles coming upon others can come against them if they are not careful to be faithful to the Lord.

This is very good, godly advice because whenever trouble begins hitting a nation it behooves the citizens to search their hearts and repent of any personal sins they are committing. It also behooves them to cry out to the Lord about national sins. This is why we find the prophet Isaiah telling the women to clothe themselves in "rags", possibly meaning sackcloth, for this symbolizes humility. This symbolizes an awareness of having sinned against the Lord (for everyone has sinned) and it symbolizes repentance over those sins.

"Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vines and for the land of my people, a land overgrown with thorns and briers---yes, mourn for all houses of merriment and for this city of revelry. The fortress will be abandoned, the noisy city deserted; citadel and watchtower will become a wasteland forever, the delight of donkeys, a pasture for flocks, till the Spirit is poured on us from on high, and the desert becomes a fertile field, and the fertile field becomes like a forest." (Isaiah 32:12-15)

Hard times are never pleasant for anyone but there is an appropriate way to respond to them. The first thing we should do is prayerfully search our hearts and allow the Holy Spirit to reveal to us any personal sin that might have caused our troubling circumstances. If we submit ourselves to the Lord in this way, and if He does not point out anything that we specifically did that caused our troubles, the next thing to do is ask Him what He intends to teach us with this hardship. Hardship is not always a result of living in rebellion; it is sometimes used as a training tool. 

I'm reminded of the way David spent many years on the run with his life being threatened by King Saul. This did not happen to David because he was living in rebellion toward the Lord. Although everyone sins and David was not perfect, during that era it appears in the Scriptures as though he was relying on the Lord and being responsive and obedient to the Lord's instructions for his life. The hardships David went through were training for his future position as king of Israel. If David had not gone through those years, I don't think he would have developed the spiritual muscle or the leadership skills he would need in order to lead the nation in a way that would be far different from the disappointing way Saul led it. Saul was a pretty effective military strategist but he was quite spiritually wayward. Israel did not need another king like Saul; Israel needed a king whose faith would be tested and tried and found to be unshakable.