and to whom will he explain the message?
Those who are weaned from the milk,
those taken from the breast?
For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
line upon line, line upon line,
here a little, there a little.”
For by people of strange lips
and with a foreign tongue
the LORD will speak to this people,
to whom he has said,
“This is rest;
give rest to the weary;
and this is repose”;
yet they would not hear.
And the word of the LORD will be to them
precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
line upon line, line upon line,
here a little, there a little,
that they may go, and fall backward,
and be broken, and snared, and taken.”
I’m struck by this passage. Albert Barnes' Commentary and the Pulpit Commentary explain that the people are scoffing at the way God is teaching them: as children in school ("line upon line, precept upon precept"). They think too highly of themselves to listen to such infantile teaching. They engage with high minded ideas and philosophy! They have no time for this childish nonsense from the prophet.
Meanwhile they’re playing with fire and running straight into traffic, and God is saying over and over, “Don’t run in the road! Don’t run in the road! Don’t touch fire! Don’t touch fire!” And they dart into the street, juggling fire and ridiculing Him, the One who would show them the way of safety and joy.
They overlook basic principles of godly living... because they think they’re too lofty for the basics. They're just like a scornful toddler heading to the road, making fun of the way His mother is calling urgently for him to turn back.
So what would happen to these people who laughed at Isaiah and continued into the road? They would get hit by a truck of flaming destruction: foreign nations would level them. Foreign nations would destroy all that they idolized. Evil foreign nations would cut off all their pride.
All of this of course made me wonder: how often do we slowly, sinisterly build up our pride? Can you see it? How we start listening to Satan in the “small things”? Do we think that delving into the fine points of doctrine, or new cultural ideas, is the high point? In our heart of hearts, do we believe we’re beyond the silly little rules that new believers learn to follow Jesus? Do we scoff: "Ha, we’ve got that down. We don’t need to think about what loving and following Jesus means because we’ve moved on to deeper, more intellectual things!" Or, perhaps we’ve moved onto a higher plane of worship: "These intellectuals — ha! They idolize their minds, but I, I really know God. I’ve had experiences their minds cannot fathom!"
These are just two examples. How does this problem play out in your life? Today, I’m convicted as I ask myself that question because very recently I showed that very judgmental, pride while listening to one of my favorite speakers. My husband came in the kitchen and I was glad that he could hear her, but I felt it necessary to point out when I noticed a small doctrinal difference in her teaching -- something we don't totally agree with. "My husband needs to see that I’m a discerning listener, you see? I keep my head on when I hear good teaching. I’m smart like that."
Ohhhh foolish me! How quickly I forget the LORD’s heart and slip into my pride.
Lord Jesus, thank You for this reminder in Isaiah, written so long ago, that still rings true in our hearts today. We are a prideful people. We are quick to scoff, quick to judge, quick to turn from Your perfect, loving, humble, gentle ways and follow Satan’s subtle lies. Will You convict us as we slip? Show us the lies and make our hearts new? May our ears be quick to hear Your Spirit and obey, even when Your call sounds childish to us. Level our pride and give us humility and grace.
You are our most gracious and loving Lord! We thank You. Amen.
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