A Word to the Wise

Isaiah 59:15b-21
Perhaps you’ve heard the expression, “You took the words right out of my mouth.” It means that someone has said what you were thinking but had not had time to express for yourself. Our reading from Isaiah today offers the opposite perspective, literally along the lines of, “You put the words right into my mouth,” and God is the one doing the putting. “And as for me, this is my covenant with them, says the Lord: my spirit that is upon you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouths of your children, or out of the mouths of your children's children, says the Lord, from now on and forever” (Isaiah 59:21). What does it mean for God to put words in our mouths? And what does it mean that these words will not depart the mouths of three or more generations of God’s people? Good questions.

I think of it this way, that there are many positions we might take in life on a variety of issues, a number of perspectives we might embrace and then share with others. Like quasi celebrity endorsers, we might pass along all types of information to our friends and our neighbors, and all manner of rumors or pieces of gossip sometimes stated as fact. According to the prophet, however, God’s word is to become our word, God’s glory the subject of our speaking, God’s actions the topic of our conversations. The days are coming when we, our children, and our children’s children, will speak the truth of God’s love and be known by that speaking and no other.

The charge to speak God’s word, of course, removes from us the opportunity to share the half-truths and hurtful innuendos that pass for communication in much of our world. I suspect were this to come to pass in a literal sense that Twitter and Facebook would become vastly different places and that reality TV would die a quick and ignoble death. What replaced them would not be the stodginess of what too often passes for religious talk, but the grace-filled and life-giving words of hope and peace that God has always used to create and to restore. Here’s hoping.

Prayer: Lord, may we learn to speak your truth in all we do. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Adders' Eggs and Spider Webs

Isaiah 59:1-21

Today’s reading from the prophet Isaiah paints a bleak picture of iniquity and injustice run amok. God’s people have turned completely away from God, so much so that they no longer perceive God’s presence in their midst. One telling passage presents vivid metaphors for this condition. “They hatch adders’ eggs,” we read, “and weave the spider’s web; whoever eats their eggs dies, and the crushed egg hatches out a viper. Their webs cannot serve as clothing; they cannot cover themselves with what they make” (Isaiah 59:5-6a). Clearly, even the most basic of needs––food and clothing––have been perverted by sinfulness beyond recognition. There can be no trust and no real community among the people because they have forgotten what it means to be care for one another and to provide for each other’s needs.

Earlier Isaiah has made the point that God has not departed from the people. “See, the Lord’s hand is not too short of save…” says the prophet. “Rather your iniquities have been barriers, between you and your God…” (v. 1-2). The image is reminiscent of William Golding’s The Lord of the Flies, the story of a planeload of young boys stranded on an island with no adult supervision. Left to their own devices the boys soon revert to a kind of animalistic state of being, full of violence and terror. Isaiah would have us see that when we turn away from God, when we allow our sins and our selfishness to become barriers, we will find ourselves lost in a hellish situation. God’s guidance, God’s presence has never been a punishment or a hardship, it has given us the structure we need to thrive in community, with care and regard for one another. Perhaps this is overly simplistic. But given the choice between doing things God’s way or doing them our way the wise path is always to seek God’s will and to strive for it. Then we are truly free to love one another and to share what we really need.

Prayer: Lord, do not leave us to our own methods, but guide us and help us to make good decisions so that all may share in your love. Amen.