Misunderestimating Isaiah
I’ve had exactly one post go viral and some folks seem to have gotten the wrong message.
A couple of weeks ago I was reading the Book of Isaiah devotionally and a quote jumped out at me. Without giving it much thought, I posted the following note on Substack.
I never really understood Isaiah until now. Today it seems like the truest thing I’ve ever read.
10:1 Woe to those who make iniquitous decrees,
who write oppressive statutes,
2 to turn aside the needy from justice
and to rob the poor of my people of their right,
to make widows their spoil
and to plunder orphans!
This post is still receiving likes and comments. That is amazing. It feels great. But some of the responses showed that readers had missed the larger point. That’s what happens when you take two verses out of context. So I’m writing this post in the hopes of sharing the Big Picture of Isaiah. It should take less than ten minutes to read.
Let me know whether or not you enjoy posts like this one that have a little more meat on them. They take more time and energy to create. If they are helpful, I’m happy to write more.
Let’s start with a little history.
It seems like the prophet Isaiah lived after godly King H (H is for Heaven or Hezekaiah) died and ungodly King M (for monster or Manasseh) took the throne. King M made a deal with the Assyrian empire and that ushered in a time of great prosperity for the country of Judah. This was trickle-down economics in the 8th century BC. Just like today, it worked really well for the rich. Until it didn’t. Babylon rose to power over Assyria and suddenly the deal was no good. Babylon destroyed Jerusalem, burned the temple, and hauled the Hebrews into exile. God told Isaiah to tell King M that he was making a big mistake. Instead of listening to the prophet, the king had him tied to a tree and sawn in half.
Ouch!
However, the Book of Isaiah is written for us. Not for King M. And through it we learn that God wants much more from us than fist-shaking at the government. Yes, God wants us to demand a government that lifts up the widows, the orphans, and the strangers. But that’s just part of what God wants from us. That’s why I say we have misunderestimated Isaiah if we limit our response to outrage.
According to Isaiah, God wants us
to be a people with clean, humble, and contrite hearts that God can abide in fully
to live joyfully the lives God has given
to attract others to joyful, righteous, and just living
And God has promised to empower us to do this through the power of the Spirit.
(Shout out to Dr. John N. Oswalt for his excellent lesson “Character of Servanthood is Righteousness” that helped me formulate this piece.)
To be a people with clean, humble, and contrite hearts that God can abide in fully
Isaiah 57:15 reads in part.
I dwell in the high and holy place
and also with those who are contrite and humble in spirit,
to revive the spirit of the humble
God wants to dwell in our hearts completely and that requires a certain kind of posture. The contrition and humility comes from realizing that we have not always behaved well. In Isaiah’s day, people were burning incense to foreign Gods and offering child sacrifices to Molech. Yes, King M told the people to do these things but that was no excuse. Isaiah had told them that King M was a monster.
To live joyfully the lives God has given
Once we realize that we are not “all of that and a bag of chips, too,” God wants us to improve our behavior.
56:1 Thus says the Lord:
Maintain justice, and do what is right,
for soon my salvation will come
and my deliverance be revealed.
This is where Joel Olstein gets it right. God does want us to live our best lives. Our best lives are the ones where God lives in our hearts the most fully. This is one thing Jesus of Nazareth demonstrated in his own earthly ministry. He emptied his heart of himself so God could abide in him fully. That’s why the writer of Hebrews calls him the “pioneer and perfecter of our faith.” He lived perfectly the life God gave him and God abided in him completely.
God wants us to live perfectly the life God has given to us. That’s why “What Would Jesus Do” misses the point. We’re not Jesus. For example, God called my brothers to the vocation of banking and they have both tried to be the best bankers they could be, not measured in terms of share price but by their best understanding of how God calls us to live, i.e. in justice and in righteousness. Of course, they have fallen short. We all fall short. Back to humility and contrition. Rinse and repeat.
We can’t do this by force of our own will. God has promised to “revive our spirit” so we can live the life God has given us.
To attract others to joyful, righteous, and just living
Every gift that God gives us is meant to be shared. We share the Good News by living it, not by strong-arming other people to believe it. In AA they call this “attraction and not promotion.”
Isaiah 2:2-3 reads
2 In days to come
the mountain of the Lord’s house
shall be established as the highest of the mountains
and shall be raised above the hills;
all the nations shall stream to it.
3 Many peoples shall come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth instruction
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
Notice that the nations/people are coming and streaming of their own volition. Why? Because they see us living the kind of lives they want and they hope to have the same kind of joy in their lives. “My life sucks and that guy is full of joy. What’s he got that I ain’t got?”
Putting it into Practice
Everyone wants practical application of scripture. That’s a tall order for a sinner like me to fill. I have a hard enough time living the life God has given me. You have to figure out how to do it with the life God has given you.
I offer three invitations.
First, “be not afraid.” King H-s and King M-s will come and go throughout history. There is nothing new under the sun. We must be able to live joyful, humble, and contrite hearts regardless of who is currently holding the reins of government. We can’t do that if we are paralyzed with fear. Especially, don’t let anyone use fear to bully you into behaving poorly. “Honor the emperor” doesn’t mean doing whatever he tells you.
Second, don’t stop praying. Go beyond “Now I lay me” and “For this food we’re about to receive.” Try to break out of the daily grind for a few minutes each day to sit in silence, to relax, to listen for that “still, soft voice.” I can’t promise that you will hear it.
I can promise that prayer won’t hurt you.
Third, I host a small ZOOM book club on Sunday evenings and for 2025 our book is the New Testament. If you’re free and would like to drop by some time, we’d love to have you. You can go to christiansanonymous.substack.com for more information.
If you haven’t subscribed to A Preacher with a Parrot, just press this button.
May the Lord bless you and keep you.