A Society On Fire
Opening Prayer
Holy God, You have called me to holy living. I belong first and foremost to You. Help me to live that way.
Read ISAIAH 9:18—10:4
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.
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Meditate
“Sin and the child of God are incompatible. They may occasionally meet: they cannot live together in harmony” (John Stott, 1921–2011).
Think Further
Isaiah pictures the breakdown of society as a forest fire, devouring everything in its path. Then the picture changes to something like cannibalism—brotherlessness, insatiable consumerism (many overeat while others starve), people “eating their own shoulders” (20c, literally) and Ephraim turning against Judah. Today this mutual destruction is global and local. As I write, Turkey is mourning 100 dead and 500 injured in a peace demonstration in Ankara. In my own town I can probably see how the social capital in my society has declined: the radius of social trust is very short; people are afraid to open the door, to walk out at night. I pray for those in my neighborhood whose venturesome love is building trust and healing pain and I renew my own commitment to this task.
In the fourth stanza of his poem, Isaiah attacks the lawlessness of the law-makers. Here again, the most vulnerable members of society (widows, fatherless) suffer the most. I pray for civil servants, for judges, for lawyers and for the police. In many societies, instead of these professionals being people to trust and to look for redress, they have been marked by corruption, lies and venality. Isaiah predicts a “day of reckoning” (10:3). For many of us who live in relatively just societies this sounds rather threatening, but to many Christians living in situations of anarchy, corruption and hopelessness this sounds like good news: the God of retributions will arise, and then things will be put right (Psa. 94:1, literal translation). The rest of chapter 10 pictures Assyria as God’s axe of judgment (15) which will fall on Israel—but God is not partial: arrogant Assyria will also feel the fire of God’s judgment (16–19).
Apply
Is there a lonely and defenseless person whom I need to help today?
Closing prayer
Lord, this hymn is my prayer for today: “Thy kingdom come O God / Thy rule O Christ begin / Break with thine iron rod / the tyrannies of sin” (Lewis Hensley, 1824–1905).
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