READING: Isaiah 18:1-23:18
Judgment and destruction would fall on Jerusalem. The people were celebrating in festivity when they should have been broken and repentant, but still their noise and commotion were evidence they were unconcerned about their situation; in fact, they may have only been excited that their enemies had been defeated. Revelry and partying echoed from their rooftops.
What Isaiah knew, though, was that Jerusalem, too, would be judged. While the people partied, all the prophet could do was weep. Here is the way one commentator put it: “This was a time to lament and repent for all of Judah, not a time to rejoice because a few of the people in Jerusalem were still safe. Isaiah sympathizes and identifies with the nation’s loss and is sick to his stomach over the inappropriate response of those rejoicing in Jerusalem.”* When they should have been broken, the people instead lived in the present-tense moment without regard for judgment; after all, the best they could do was “eat and drink, for tomorrow we die” (Isa 22:13).
We can only wonder if we ever live that same way, too. We party when we should be grieving. We focus on the now without considering coming judgment. We live in our iniquities, despite the fact that the Lord has spoken. We weep far, far too little over our sin.
PERSONAL REFLECTION: Are you partying when you should be grieving?
DAILY PRAYER: “God, give us Your heart. Help us to hear You above all else.”
TOMORROW’S READING: Isaiah 24:1-27:13, 29:1-24
* Smith, G. V. (2007). Isaiah 1–39 (E. R. Clendenen, Ed.; pp. 384–385). B & H Publishing Group.
