The Woes of Isaiah 5

Good morning. Today we are in Isaiah 5:8–30.

When I was getting ready to figure out what we were going to be doing today, the only thing that first came into my mind when I first read it was a pick-your-adventure type of thought of a "pick your woe."

I do not mean that in any way to diminish the judgment of God here. But as I was starting out, I was like, "Oh, okay. Yeah, I get what You're saying against Israel, and I understand what's going on."

And then they started to point out things to me and become a little bit more personal and a little bit more pointed.

And so, yes, I do look at this with a little bit of "pick your woe," but more of a, "Wow. Our words, our deeds, thoughts, our hearts."

And I do worry and think about America and where we are.

I know full well that this is written specifically to Israel and Judah, but there are parts of this, if not much of it, that rings true for us as well.

Have we turned our hearts to God?

And I would think it seems like the resounding answer at the moment is no.

And Isaiah is showing how patient God is, and yet His patience does eventually run out.

And then we land here with a list of woes, a list of attitudes and actions that show where our hearts truly are.

One of the ones that really stuck out to me was not so much the beginning of the woe in verse 11, but verse 12—the end of verse 12 into the beginning of verse 13.

It says:

"But they do not pay attention to the deeds of the Lord, nor do they consider the work of His hands. Therefore My people go into exile for their lack of knowledge."

And that lack of knowledge comes because they are not paying attention to God.

They have no—seemingly, they have no room in their lives for Him.

And that shows a lack of knowledge of God and a lack of understanding who He is.

And then we have verse 18 and 19:

"Woe to those who drag wrongdoing with cords of deceit"—other versions use vanity, lying—"and sin as if with cart ropes."

And I just have this image of these people who are dressed up and fancy, and yet their walk is sort of slow and labored as they are dragging along behind them these things, their wrongdoings and their sin.

And then they turn to God and they are almost mocking Him.

In verse 19 they say:

"Who say, 'Let Him hurry, let Him do His work quickly, so that we may see it; and let the plan of the Holy One of Israel approach and come to pass, so that we may know it!'"

And the irony of that image in my mind, which is very of these prideful, stiff-necked people—and I know that that's not what He's saying here, but in other areas that verbiage is used when it talks about pride—and they are laboring, dragging along all of this stuff.

Don't we do that?

Don't we drag along our sin and drag along all of the wrong things, and then we're like, "God, why haven't You done anything? Why haven't You revealed Yourself? Why haven't You shown us? Why don't You be swift?"

Our very short attention spans.

"Why don't You fit into my 30 seconds of a video on social media?"

Ouch.

Ouch.

Ouch.

And then we get into more of the woes we are a little bit more familiar with: calling evil good, and those who are wise in their own eyes.

Then we go back to verse 16, where it says:

"The Lord of Armies will be exalted in judgment, and the holy God will show Himself holy in righteousness."

There again, we have the whole uncomfortable version of God in front of us.

And He is fully at home with Himself. He knows—I'm struggling trying to explain what I mean here.

But again, thinking back to a few days ago when we talked about the fullness of God and how, as a human, I try to separate out His wrath and His judgment and say that they're over here, you know, off to the side, but His mercy and His love and His grace are more central, and those are the ones that make me feel comfortable.

And in this moment, He is letting us know exactly who He is in His fullness.

I don't know about you, but I am thankful for a God who can be both the gentle, loving Shepherd, but also the Lord of Armies, who will show Himself holy in righteousness.

Because that's the version of Him, that's the image of Him being a warrior, that makes me think He can come and stand alongside me in my hardest battles.

Yeah.

So which woe stuck out to you? Which part of this chapter grabbed your attention?

Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, I am in awe of You.

I am in awe of Your ability to be both the Shepherd and the conquering King, the One who is holy.

You are holy, holy, holy.

You are worthy to be praised.

Thank You.

Thank You for showing up.

Thank You for revealing Yourself to me and to us.

Oh God, You are—you are worthy.

You are worthy, and You alone have judgment, final judgment.

Oh Lord, that we would soften our hearts to You. That we would bow our heads. That we would humble ourselves to You.

Oh Lord, that You will be with us when judgment comes. That You will be our strength. You will be our King, our Father.

Thank You.

I—I have no other words.

Thank You for who You are, for Your righteousness.

Lord, I pray that You'll be with us as we go out and do the things that You have placed in front of us. That we will have eyes that can see and ears that can hear those that You place in our path. That we will be a light for You, Lord, in this dark world. That we will bring You glory and honor. You deserve that, Lord.

Oh Lord, it is in the precious name of Jesus I pray.

Thank you for joining me today as we wandered through God's Word with wonder.