The Fire of Wickedness

(Word Press tells me that I signed up to start blogging five years ago today. It took me a little while to settle in, but the time has flown. I’m thankful for all the new friends I’ve met here.  It’s been a wonderful experience!)

Isaiah 9:18.”For wickedness burneth as the fire; it shall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, and they shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke.”

Lawlessness is like a wildfire that turns on itself and burns itself out. Any nation that becomes lawless is doomed to destroy itself. This is what was happening in Israel.

It is also happening in America today. All the violent, angry protests are an example of lawlessness. Yes, they have the right to free speech; however, destroying others’ property is lawlessness. They are a law unto themselves, and at some point their allegiance to such lawless behavior will be their downfall.

No one can shake a fist in God’s face and expect to win.

Hypocrites and Evildoers

Isaiah 9:17. “Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men, meither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows: for every one is an hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaketh folly. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still”.

When people are impenitent, their behaviors and attitudes are set in hypocrisy and arrogance.  Because of their attitudes, the Lord cannot find pleasure in those who should be strong young men, vital, leaders, able to turn the nation back to God. Also, orphans do not receive the compassion of God in their lives, nor do widows, who usually  are special objects of Divine compassion.

Individually and as a nation, the people were all profligate, blasphemers, and evildoers. Even though they were being run over and left with nothing , they still maintained an attitude of not needing God.

God’s hand, therefore, is still stretched out in judgment.