Staying connected
Isaiah 15: A Message concerning Moab.
Lest it appear that Isaiah has it in only for Babylon, we must note that a quick journey through this portion of Isaiah’s prophecy brings to light God’s displeasure with several other groups. There’s Philistia, Moab, Ethiopia, Egypt, Tyre and others. In other words, not only have God’s people gotten themselves in trouble with the Lord for their sin, they’re surrounded by sinful nations that would like nothing better than to wipe Israel off the map. (Somehow that sounds familiar — oh yes, we heard something like this on the news this morning!) Across the centuries God’s people have survived only by the grace of God. Their own failures have brought judgment and their enemies have posed a very real threat to their existence. Today, that’s still true for all of God’s people. We Christians believe we’ve been “grafted in” and are, by faith, children of Abraham. As his people, God holds us to a high standard and we must not forget that. Also, as did they, we live in hostile territory. For some believers, this is literally true and for all believers it’s spiritually true. We’re surrounded by that which would destroy our life in the Lord. Israel’s only hope is to reconnect with God. Today, our remaining “in Christ” is also our only hope.
Take Away: Our journey through life takes us through some dangerous territory, our only security is in the Lord.