Isaiah Speaks

I have been reading Isaiah for the past few weeks, and my reaction has been similar to last year when I read Jeremiah, in that I have noticed that many of the prophecies that Isaiah gave to the people of his time seem singularly appropriate for our own times.

Isaiah's prophecies are very far-reaching and they often typify the idea that many of the Old Testament prophets visualized their own times and extending far into the future at the same time. Even though many of Isaiah's prophecies see his current moment and into the future to the coming of Christ, all the way to the second coming all at once, what I want to zero in on today is a message that he gave to the people his day that also speaks to the situation in which we see ourselves in our own time. This is typified in the following passage:

Woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees and the writers who keep writing oppression to turn aside the needy from justice and who rob the poor of my people from their right that widows may be their spoil and that they may make the fatherless their prey!

What will you do on the day of punishment; in the ruin that will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help and where will you leave your wealth?         Isaiah 10:1-3

It seems that the people of Isaiah's day had become stingy with the financial blessings with which God had blessed them, even as many of us have in our day (see my post: Idolatry in the 21st Century 01/07/15). We serve a generous God. I am persuaded when I read the scriptures such as these that He expects us to emulate His generosity.

As I write this I am in Little Rock, Arkansas. This is a community that has its fair share of homeless "street people." I am not sure why, perhaps the mild weather this year, but I am seeing more of them recently. The RV park where we are staying is alongside the river, and is encircled by a walking trail that also follows the river, and crosses it on an old railroad bridge that has been converted to a pedestrian bridge. The constant traffic of these street people is obvious on this bridge that is just outside my window. I cannot walk my dog in either direction without seeing at least one of them, and sometimes I have seen as many as a half-dozen of them within a half-mile of the RV park. You can tell who they are by the fact that they are carrying everything that they own with them.

In the musical play Fiddler on the Roof,  Tevye says to God at one point that He must love the poor, because He made so many of them! With all the discussion about why the poor are poor, and why the homeless are homeless, we often lose sight of the fact that God loves them, and takes no delight in their suffering.

A lot of what I see happening is that we are helping the poor (of all kinds) by giving them their immediate needs, making them depend on our giving and thereby perpetuating them as a class within our supposed "classless society." As has been true for the entire time that I have been an observer, we have done very little to reclaim them into being productive citizens.

While the passage above speaks primarily to the plight of widows and orphans, I cannot help but believe that the other people among the poor and homeless need to have their suffering addressed as well. It is not good that anyone should go hungry, or without shelter, or in need of medical treatment, or inadequately clothed. We often cite the words of Paul "if anyone is not willing to work,  let him not eat." (2 Thessalonians  3:10), all the while not noticing that this statement was addressed to believers within the Christian community. In the long term, we need to address the barriers that prevent people from being productive members of society. In the short term however, we need to alleviate their current suffering (see my post: On being our Brothers Keeper 06/30/11). This needs to be done not in the context of secular society, but in the context of the ministry of the Church. I can discern at least two reasons for this. First, it needs to be done in the name of Jesus Christ. This is something that secular (and often godless) government cannot do, even if it wanted to. Second, we need to have this as an opportunity to bring them the one thing that we can bring to them that the world cannot bring; the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is indeed the one thing that will start them on the path of recovery in this world, and will fit them for being what Christ intends them to be in the world to come.

Please understand me.  I am not so naïve as to believe that their coming to Christ will erase all the demons that plague the people of whom I speak. I have had enough trouble dealing with my own demons to believe this. Nevertheless, this is the most meaningful thing that we can do to minister to them and start a change in their lives. This is the most important thing we can do for this world that so desperately needs our Savior, and all that He can do for it.

Thanks for sharing this moment with me today.