Wednesday
“Come now, let us reason together,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.”
(Isaiah 1:18, NIV)
The prophet Isaiah was a contemporary of Amos, Hosea and Micah, and began his ministry in 740 B.C., the year King Uzziah died. He spent most of his life in Jerusalem during the tumultuous period when the Assyrian Empire was expanding at the expense, among others, of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Isaiah repeatedly warned Judah that the sins of the Southern Kingdom would result in her captivity at the hands of Babylon.
This famous verse, used as the words of a popular Christian hymn, illustrates how sin not only causes warfare within each one of us, but also distorts society and creates conditions where people are oppressed. In the preceding verses, Isaiah relates God’s judgment that he finds no pleasure in Judah’s burnt offerings or religious ceremonies. Why? Because when the Jews spread out their hands in prayer, their hands are “full of blood” (v. 15).
The Lord warns Judah in no uncertain terms: “Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow” (vv. 16b-17). Categories of vulnerable people who were being wronged in Jewish society are clearly spelled out here. These are people without power, without anyone to defend them.
A few verses later, Isaiah states God’s judgment against Judah’s rulers who are described as “rebels, companions of thieves” who “love bribes and chase after gifts” (v. 33). Unfortunately, sin doesn’t simply limit its destruction to individual acts of evil, but penetrates the structures of a society and causes the oppression of groups of people, especially those who are weak. Sin knows no bounds. It is an obstacle to God’s shalom in our personal lives and in our corporate lives. Are we discerning enough to see sin’s inroads in our own society?
Prayer
Lord, help us to have the eyes to see the world the way you do: to see how sin distorts our personal lives and our society. We rejoice that through your Son, Jesus Christ, the power of Satan has been broken. Keep us from a blindness that inhibits our ability to see the evil around us and from a lack of desire to confront it when it is found. Amen.