Isaiah 51: 1-16 has been about God’s plan to send the Messiah and bring enormous blessing upon those whom He calls His people! v 17 must come as a rude shock if they have settled back into the comfort of knowing God’s plans and that they are held close to the heart of God! The whip cracks! God commands, ‘Wake up, stand up, get on with it!‘
17 Wake yourself, wake yourself,
stand up, O Jerusalem,
you who have drunk from the hand of the LORD
the cup of his wrath,
who have drunk to the dregs
the bowl, the cup of staggering – They sinned and they have been disciplined!
18 There is none to guide her
among all the sons she has borne;
there is none to take her by the hand
among all the sons she has brought up.
– there is not a single capable person to lead the nation!
19 These two things have happened to you—
who will console you?—
devastation and destruction, famine and sword;
who will comfort you?– virtually the same question repeated twice. To whom is the nation going to turn for consolation. Psychology speaks of ‘consolation’ as that which is needed when going from having suffered to hopefully total healing!
20 Your sons have fainted;
they lie at the head of every street
like an antelope in a net;
they are full of the wrath of the LORD,
the rebuke of your God.
– How heartrendingly sad! Do you ever feel that your country suffers the same problem?
21 Therefore hear this, you who are afflicted,
who are drunk, but not with wine:
– If not drunk with wine, with what are they accused of being ‘drunk’? Narcissism? Rebellion? Stupidity?
22 Thus says your Lord, the LORD,
your God who pleads the cause of his people:
“Behold, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering;
the bowl of my wrath you shall drink no more;
23 and I will put it into the hand of your tormentors,
who have said to you,
‘Bow down, that we may pass over’;
and you have made your back like the ground
and like the street for them to pass over.”
– What in fact is God saying here? 1. Your heavy discipline is over for now. 2. You are going to have the upper hand now! (?? temporarily) 3. God affirms that they have been walked over, trodden down by their conquering enemies 4. Their erstwhile conquerors will get what they have dished out on Israel!
Proverbs 19: 24 – The sluggard buries his hand in the dish and will not even bring it back to his mouth.
Prayer: Father help me o remember and live faithfully in obedience to Your call. Thank You for hymns such as
‘Jesus bids us shine with a clear pure light,
like a little candle burning in the night;
in this world of darkness we must shine –
you in your small corner, and I in mine.’
Help me to be what You want me to be!