November 10 | Isaiah 3:1-12

Dave Mann
Nov 10
2 min read

DAILY READING

REFLECTION

When the Good Guys Don't Get It

By Dave Mann

When we watch a drama, there are typically good guys and bad guys. Everything starts out simply fine. But those conniving bad guys get the upper hand and start to take over the world. As we near the end, the bad guys seem to be on the verge of winning. However, in the end the good guys prevail. And who do we identify with? Of course, we see ourselves in the good guys.

But what if the “good guys” are really among the bad guys? What if the “good guys” are just as bad as the bad guys, precisely because they don’t have sufficient self-awareness to recognize that they don’t even know what good and bad are anymore?

The prophet Isaiah paints an exceedingly difficult portrait for us. The capital city of Jerusalem and the nation of Judea are being reproved by the Lord for the very actions that the bad guys are doing. But the city and the nation appear to be oblivious of their mirroring of what the bad guys are known for. “They parade their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it.”

All the “good guys” are falling short. Here is the long list of supposed good guys who don’t have the Lord’s approval – “the hero and the warrior, the judge and the prophet, the diviner [Levite] and the elder, the captain of fifty and the man of rank, the counselor, skilled craftsman and clever enchanter [priest].”

This unpleasant situation is pretty horrible. If we identify with the “good guys” as we normally do, where do we find ourselves? Who is to blame? Isaiah’s words sting: we “will be paid back for what our hands have done.” The Lord reproves us, “My people, your guides lead you astray; they turn you from the path.”

Fortunately for us, this real-to-life drama does not end with chapter 3, verse 12 of today’s text. The judgment is real, and the Lord’s rebuke is well deserved both by his people in Isaiah’s day and by his people in our day. Nevertheless, we know the rest of the story – God’s call to repentance, his solution through the bitter pain of the Cross, and the victory of the Empty Tomb. All of this good news is grandly pronounced both in the New Testament and even in Isaiah’s own prophecies as we see in his later writings. We can all-the-more appreciate the beauty of God's solution when we take seriously the Lord’s reprimand.

PRAYER

Heavenly Father, the words that you inspired through the pen of Isaiah sting. But they ring true. Holy Spirit lead us in the way of repentance so that we might rejoice in the work of the Cross and the Empty Tomb, in the name of Jesus, Amen.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

DAVE MANN

I am a Pastor for Internationals (retired) in the UALC community. I am married to Pam, father of four, and grandfather of seven. Pam and I have lived twenty of our years in other countries including France, Cameroon, Haiti, and Morocco. In retirement, we continue to enjoy writing devotionals, learning languages, and teaching English to internationals.