Never Destitute

DEVOTION

ISAIAH

 NEVER DESTITUTE

Isa 3:12-26

12 Youths oppress my people, women rule over them. O my people, your guides lead you astray; they turn you from the path. 13 The LORD takes his place in court; he rises to judge the people. 14 The LORD enters into judgment against the elders and leaders of his people:" It is you who have ruined my vineyard; the plunder from the poor is in your houses. 15 What do you mean by crushing my people and grinding the faces of the poor?" declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty.

16 The LORD says," The women of Zion are haughty, walking along with outstretched necks, flirting with their eyes, tripping along with mincing steps, with ornaments jingling on their ankles. 17 Therefore the Lord will bring sores on the heads of the women of Zion; the LORD will make their scalps bald."

18 In that day the Lord will snatch away their finery: the bangles and headbands and crescent necklaces, 19 the earrings and bracelets and veils, 20 the headdresses and ankle chains and sashes, the perfume bottles and charms, 21 the signet rings and nose rings, 22 the fine robes and the capes and cloaks, the purses 23 and mirrors, and the linen garments and tiaras and shawls.

24 Instead of fragrance there will be a stench; instead of a sash, a rope; instead of well-dressed hair, baldness; instead of fine clothing, sackcloth; instead of beauty, branding. 25 Your men will fall by the sword, your warriors in battle. 26 The gates of Zion will lament and mourn; destitute, she will sit on the ground.

NIV

There is no question Israel was brought to its knees many times and laid bare, in fact it was destitute for centuries until 1948 when after World War II the Jewish people were given back the land God had promised to Abraham. The city of Jerusalem stands, but the temple of the Lord is no longer. In the day of Isaiah, the people had turned their backs on God and became a nation of sensuality. There were temple prostitutes, women ruled by with their sensual lures. We think how Samson was sapped of all his strength because of a woman’s touch. However, all this vision could simple be how God sees the whole of Israel as a women, or living in the ways of the world rather than in his ways. It could be how the world is the woman and traps the people of God with its lustful ways. When the people of God have such an affair with the world they are an adulteress people, entrapped by their lust for the sensual. We only have to look at many of the ways the world advertises with the use of sexuality to know lust is in the heart of man. Beauty is in the forefront, the multitude of products and services to enhance our looks, both male and female, is staggering. Health aids, performance aids, steroids to build a better body, diets to make us more slender and thus more appealing are everywhere. The world has become more and more consumed with the physical and forsaken the real need of life, the spiritual. The physical will fade with time, what once was fragrant will become a stench in the grave. Old age rips all from once was. That beautiful skin is now old and wrinkled. That muscular physique has been turned to flab. The mirror does not lie. The youth that once ruled our bodies is now sackcloth. How can we become so consumed with that which is temporary while paying little attention to what is eternal?  Before is it too late and we have the stench of death in our bones, we need to make sure the spirit is alive in Christ, for when we give up this body and it takes it last breathe we will fly away to be in the presence of our Lord. Sure we use that age old concept the our bodies are the temple of the Lord and so we should take care of it, but think about it, why would he want to live in something that is going to die. We are the temple, our spirit, who we are, is the temple of the Lord, our eternal being is where he resides. The world is entrenched with the physical form and we should not allow its ideologies to influence us. Let us live in the Spirit, keeping in step with the Spirit and we will never sit on the ground, nor be destitute.