Where is Humility

DEVOTION

ISAIAH

WHERE IS HUMILITY

Isa 5:22-25

22 Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine and champions at mixing drinks, 23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice to the innocent. 24 Therefore, as tongues of fire lick up straw and as dry grass sinks down in the flames, so their roots will decay and their flowers blow away like dust; for they have rejected the law of the LORD Almighty and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel. 25 Therefore the LORD's anger burns against his people; his hand is raised and he strikes them down. The mountains shake, and the dead bodies are like refuse in the streets.

NIV

Another woe to consider. Here it is singular in nature, being prideful in how much wine one can drink without getting drunk. It is a wonder how Israel became like this. How did they become a people of feasting, drinking, carousing, a party people after all the history they had with God? They even perverted the justice system. It is most likely the rich who were able to afford the bribes to get out of being charged with a crime. At the same time they pursued the innocent denying them rightful justice, and charged them with crimes they did not commit. This was most likely the crime committed by the acquitted rich man. What a wicked people, and yet they were God’s chosen. He did so much for them and blessed them so much and still they turned their backs on him, rejecting his law, and they spurned his word, whatever scrolls they had, at the time, or the laws given to them by Moses. What Isaiah is speaking about here is what will happen to them regarding being taken from their land by some other nation. This will be the desolation of Israel, the hand of God is raised up against them. So what is the lesson for us today? We have all the Holy Scriptures, the complete Word of God. We have everything he has to say to his creation. Of course he is able to say more, through the working of the Spirit, or even through a messenger, an angel of the Lord. He could have a specific command or instruction for someone. It would be wrong to put God in a box and say we decided or limited how he can speak to us. Yet the idea is the same. We have all we need to know God, to know who he is and how he deals with his creation. We know his love, his protection, his provision, his salvation, his justice and his grace and mercy. But still do we get off track at times? Certainly as a country we have seen the rich acquitted because of brides. We have seen the powerful people get away with all sorts of crimes, while the average person stands condemned for far less, or if an average person did what those rich and powerful people did, the poor would be found guilty and sent to prison. Will our country pay the same price Israel did? How do we see this in a personal way? Surely we are not braggarts as to how much we can drink, in fact many believers are braggarts regarding the fact they do not drink at all. But what about this guilty and innocent matter? Do we try to get away with sin, by bribing God? Do we say that our sin is not so bad, because we serve him in so many ways, that our good deeds outweigh our bad deeds? And, at the same time do we judge others sin and deny them the same justice God gives to us. We are all sinners saved by grace. No one’s sin is worse than another’s. It does not matter how many or how few good deeds we do, nothing outweighs our sin, but the blood of Jesus does. Although the matter of pride about drinking or not drinking is not the issue, the fact is, pride is still at the heart of the issue, arrogance is a core issue. God will not tolerate arrogance, he might just raise his hand up against such sin. We say all sin is forgivable and covered under the blood of Jesus. But is being prideful, or arrogant, even in being so spiritual, or in the number of good deeds we do, a way of spurning the word of God? Both James and Peter quote the proverb, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble”. We have to be careful to always remain humble before our God and before men.