Dumber Than An Ox And A Donkey
I guess the prophet Isaiah knew his opening line might get the attention of God’s beloved children. However, God is not feeling the love from his children. In fact, one of the strong points of the book of Isaiah is that the actions of God’s children do not line up with the actions of God. The very image-bearers of God are regularly going through the prescribed rituals of worship, yet they are consistently practicing injustice and behaving opposite to how God thinks or behaves.
Love and Repentance
Most love letters don’t begin anything like Isaiah’s opening lines (see Isaiah 1:1-3.) (Does anyone write love letters anymore? I hope so! Yes, we live in a digital age, but texting a heart or a kiss doesn’t count!)
The prophet Isaiah wrote both poetically and specifically about how much God loves his people, and that they need to repent of their behaviors that don’t align with God’s covenant. As the first few lines continue, Isaiah says that God’s chosen are utterly estranged from God.
Estrangement is a sad reality for many couples and families. Estrangement is uncomfortable, even embarrassing at times. But Scientific American, in June 2020, that said 17 percent of college and graduate students claimed to be estranged from an immediate family member. And that pain is felt by other family members, as well.
In Isaiah’s very first chapter, he describes God’s estrangement from his people. God covers his eyes to the acts of worship by his children, Isaiah said. They may offer sacrifices and go through all of the proper liturgy, but their practice of justice and mercy does not line up with God’s care for his people. God <calls> his chosen ones to repent and to correct their behavior: “Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.”
A Path Back
Isaiah is very specific about what God wants. And he offers a path back to God. There is a way to end the estrangement. There is a way to be smarter than an ox and a donkey, but it involves repentance. God is not interested in the reading of Scripture, the songs of the praise band, or the size of the check in the offering plate without lives that are also willing to practice justice, mercy, and humility.
God is not interested in the reading of Scripture, the songs of the praise band, or the size of the check in the offering plate without lives that are also willing to practice justice, mercy, and humility.
Judah is in a mess with the Assyrian empire on the rise. All of God’s people are at risk from the outside. But Isaiah says the greater issue is your risk because of being estranged or alienated from God, even as you think your worship and sacrifice is protection.
Upward and Outward Change
In verse 18 God gives an invitation: “Come let us reason together.” But this is not an invitation to debate whether God’s children are justified. This is an invitation to settle the matter and have the divine relationship restored. God offers cleansing. He offers healing and hope. The requirement is repentance and corrected behavior. This behavior change must be both upward to God and outward to others.
These are explicit warnings of what happens if we stay in our careless ways regarding others. But the grace, love, and mercy of God flow like a pure river when we repent and obey.
The ox knows his owner, said the prophet. And I want to know mine, too. Paul said it well in Philippians: “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection.” To know Him is to follow Him. We cannot simply be spectators in the Kingdom of God. We must be those Paul describes in Romans 12, namely, not conformed to the world, but transformed by God.
To know God is to follow him.
God’s Word for You
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