GOD IS … JUST
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Opening Prayer
Lord Jesus, fill me with your presence today; have your light shine through me in ways that bless others around me.
Read ISAIAH 9:18–10:4
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
18 Surely wickedness burns like a fire;
it consumes briers and thorns,
it sets the forest thickets ablaze,
so that it rolls upward in a column of smoke.
19 By the wrath of the Lord Almighty
the land will be scorched
and the people will be fuel for the fire;
they will not spare one another.
20 On the right they will devour,
but still be hungry;
on the left they will eat,
but not be satisfied.
Each will feed on the flesh of their own offspring:
21 Manasseh will feed on Ephraim, and Ephraim on Manasseh;
together they will turn against Judah.
Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,
his hand is still upraised.
10 Woe to those who make unjust laws,
to those who issue oppressive decrees,
2 to deprive the poor of their rights
and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people,
making widows their prey
and robbing the fatherless.
3 What will you do on the day of reckoning,
when disaster comes from afar?
To whom will you run for help?
Where will you leave your riches?
4 Nothing will remain but to cringe among the captives
or fall among the slain.
Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,
his hand is still upraised.
Reflect
If you were queen or king of the world, what laws would you pass to make the world a better place? (You can give your real answer because no one else is listening!)These days, the news regularly contains pictures of wildfires—of- ten in Australia or North America—and the devastation they cause. These fires move with ferocious speed, consuming everything in their path. They are virtually unstoppable, even with the helicopters and fire engines of the modern Western world. Imagine the terror they must have held to Isaiah’s hearers.
No wonder Isaiah uses wildfire as a picture of wickedness: it might start small in briers and thorns, but soon sets forests ablaze (v. 18). Greed is the next example: it can never be satisfied but gets worse and worse, until we end up (metaphorically) devouring one another (vv. 20, 21). God’s judgment is to give them over to this wildfire of wickedness (v. 19). His vineyard will be destroyed (5:5, 6).
This awful punishment is a consequence of the wickedness of Israel’s leaders, who have been preying on the very people who most need their protection, even manipulating the legal system to benefit themselves (vv. 1, 2). Such rottenness at the top had then spread like wildfire through the nation so that no one could be excused.
Apply
Whether or not you are actively involved in local or national politics, how often and for what do you pray for the leaders of your area and nation?
Closing prayer
Lord Jesus, make me sensitive to the pollution of injustices and oppression in the world around me and show me how I can stand for what is right.
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