Readings for today: Isaiah 59-63
I have a running dialogue with a couple of friends who are atheists. Their questions are honest and real and sincere. They struggle with all the suffering they see in the world and they wonder how in the world God could stand by and let it happen. They question his goodness. They question his omnipotence. After all, how could a good God allow things like mass starvation and genocide? How could an all-powerful God not confront Putin and put an end to warfare and violence. Perhaps God is all-powerful but not good and therefore not to be trusted? Perhaps God is good but impotent in the face of evil and therefore unreliable? Either way, he’s not much of a god and unworthy of our attention much less our worship and devotion.
The factor my friends fail to take into account is human freedom. When God created us, He made us in His image. He gave us dominion and authority over all He had made. He gave us the freedom to choose so that we would have the freedom to love. Love the world He has made. Love our fellow human beings. Love God. The freedom to choose means we have to accept responsibility for the consequences of our choices. Good or bad. Righteous or unrighteous. When we choose selfishness, greed, power, deceit, violence, and hate; we shouldn’t be surprised when we reap a similar harvest in return. When we choose sacrifice, honor, love, grace, and mercy; we shouldn’t be surprised when we reap those things as well. What is true for us as individuals is also true for us collectively as nations and it’s why the world we live in is in such turmoil.
Isaiah saw all take place in his own day. He also could see it continuing to happen far into the future. Read his words again from Isaiah 59:1-13. They are convicting and sobering. The prophet lays out exactly why there is so much evil and suffering in the world. He pins all the responsibility on humanity’s failure to love and obey God. “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies; your tongue mutters wickedness. No one enters suit justly; no one goes to law honestly; they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies, they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity. They hatch adders’ eggs; they weave the spider’s web; he who eats their eggs dies, and from one that is crushed a viper is hatched. Their webs will not serve as clothing; men will not cover themselves with what they make. Their works are works of iniquity, and deeds of violence are in their hands. Their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; desolation and destruction are in their highways. The way of peace they do not know, and there is no justice in their paths; they have made their roads crooked; no one who treads on them knows peace. Therefore justice is far from us, and righteousness does not overtake us; we hope for light, and behold, darkness, and for brightness, but we walk in gloom. We grope for the wall like the blind; we grope like those who have no eyes; we stumble at noon as in the twilight, among those in full vigor we are like dead men. We all growl like bears; we moan and moan like doves; we hope for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far from us. For our transgressions are multiplied before you, and our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us, and we know our iniquities: transgressing, and denying the Lord, and turning back from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart lying words.”
The fundamental reality is that God has given humanity all she needs to put an end to evil and suffering in our world. The earth produces more than enough food to make sure everyone single person gets fed. World economies produce more than enough wealth to provide for the basic needs of every single person on the planet. Medical technology could easily bring an end to so much disease. Justice and righteousness are within our grasp if we can just look beyond class and race and gender. So why don’t we do these things? The Bible’s answer is clear though we may not like it. We are sinners. At a fundamental level, we are selfish. We look out for number one. We want what we want when we want it and we give too little thought to those around us. We believe we are the center of the universe and our needs are what are most important. Satisfying our desires is our highest priority. And the consequences to such an approach to life are evident all around us. It’s why some have much and others have little. It’s why some get ahead and some are left behind. It’s why there is so much inequality among individuals and nations. We refuse to answer the call for which we were made…to be our brother and sister’s keeper.
Thankfully, the Lord’s hand is not shortened that it cannot save nor His ear dull that He cannot hear. Though He has entrusted the world to us, He is not dependent on us. Though He has entrusted us with the welfare of our neighbor, He doesn’t wait for us to act. Though He has given us dominion and authority over all things, He still reigns supreme. So in His time and in His way, He takes action. He sends a Redeemer. His name is Jesus. Listen to how Isaiah describes Him…“Truth is lacking, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. The Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice. He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no one to intercede; then his own arm brought him salvation, and his righteousness upheld him. He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head; he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak. According to their deeds, so will he repay, wrath to his adversaries, repayment to his enemies; to the coastlands he will render repayment. So they shall fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun; for he will come like a rushing stream, which the wind of the Lord drives. “And a Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,” declares the Lord.” (Isaiah 59:15-20)
Jesus sets us free from the power of sin and death. Jesus sets us free to love and serve others. Jesus sets us free to move from selfishness to selflessness. From greed to generosity. From hatred to compassion. From violence to peace. And those who follow Jesus are sent out into the world to “bring good news to the poor” and “bind up the broken-hearted” and “proclaim liberty to the captives” and the “year of the Lord’s favor.” (Isaiah 61) This is our responsibility as believers in Jesus Christ, friends, and it is why the church is the hope of the world.
Readings for tomorrow: Isaiah 64-66