A Nation Gone Astray Isaiah 59

The principle of sowing and reaping applies not only to individuals but also to nations. A country that ignores or rejects God and His Word will suffer the consequences of that choice. Though Israel had once honored the Lord, it went astray during the days of the prophet Isaiah and suffered the dire results of turning from the heavenly Father.

When a nation begins ignoring biblical commands and principles, truth becomes relative as false philosophies and “liberated thinking” take root. Leaders tend to consider themselves advanced and intellectual, but in reality, if they are separated from God, their thinking is foolish and their understanding darkened (Eph. 4:17-18).

A society always behaves according to its belief system, so the inevitable result of skewed thinking is sin. Once sin becomes acceptable in the eyes of the people, sensuality and self-gratification dominate as restraint is lifted. The baser nature of man emerges in the form of immorality, greed, and violence. Injustice reaches its peak when laws permit the killing of the most helpless and innocent of all its citizens—unborn children. Even if the majority of citizens disapprove of the injustice and immorality, unless they act, that nation will continue its downward spiral into depravity.

Our ultimate hope, of course, is in our coming King who will reign on earth with righteousness and justice. But the church must still awaken to its responsibility to be salt and light in a depraved world. Each generation is called to be alert and active during its appointed time on this earth.

Rest Upon the Rock

Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.

Isaiah 26:4

Seeing that we have such a God to trust, let us rest upon Him with all our weight; let us resolutely drive out all unbelief and endeavor to get rid of doubts and fears, which spoil our comfort, since there is no excuse for fear when God is the foundation of our trust. A loving parent would be sorely grieved if his child could not trust him; and how ungenerous, how unkind is our conduct when we put so little confidence in our heavenly Father, who has never failed us and who never will.

It would be good if doubting was banished from the household of God; but it is to be feared that old Unbelief is as nimble today as when the psalmist asked, “Will the Lord spurn forever, and never again be favorable?”¹ David had not tested the mighty sword of the giant Goliath for long, and yet he said, “There is none like that.”² He had tried it once in the hour of his youthful victory, and it had proved itself to be of the right metal, and therefore he praised it ever afterwards.

Even so should we speak well of our God; there is none like unto Him in the heaven above or the earth beneath. “To whom will you liken me and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be alike?”³ There is no rock like the rock of Jacob, our enemies themselves being judges. So far from tolerating doubts to live in our hearts, we will take the whole detestable crew, as Elijah did the prophets of Baal, and slay them over the brook; and for a stream to kill them at, we will select the sacred torrent that flows from our Savior’s wounded side. We have been in many trials, but we have never yet been placed where we could not find in our God all that we needed. Let us then be encouraged to trust in the Lord forever, assured that His ever-lasting strength will be, as it has been, our deliverance and comfort.

¹Psalm 77:7 ²1 Samuel 21:9 ³Isaiah 46:5