READ: Isaiah 48
Verses
chosen for meditation: Isaiah 48:1-2
1 Hear this, O house of Jacob,
who are called by the name of Israel,
and who came from the waters of Judah,
who swear by the name of the Lord
and confess the God of Israel,
but not in truth or right.
2 For they call themselves after the holy city,
and stay themselves on the God of Israel;
the Lord of hosts is his name.
REFLECT
Chapter 48 continues to touch on God’s plan to use
Cyrus to free His people from Babylonian captivity. God addresses the captives
here, and for most parts, He calls for them to listen. The reference to
Jerusalem as the holy city in v2 is in stark contrast with Babylon in the
previous chapter. Babylon symbolises wickedness and destruction, destined for
doom. Jerusalem, on the other hand, symbolises holiness and hope for the future,
the place God would raise up again, and rule from it.
The challenge for God’s people was living right in
the light of that hope, expecting its fulfilment at any moment. However, their
walk was not in truth or right (v1). They claimed to be citizens of the kingdom
(v2), but their lives showed no evidence of that. Their outward professing of
faith could not hide from God, the wickedness of their heart conditions.
Subsequent verses backed up God’s assessment. They
were obstinate/stubborn (Isaiah 48:4), tended towards their idols instead of
God (Isaiah 48:5), and were treacherous/rebellious (Isaiah 48:8). The heart of
Israel’s sinfulness lies in their failure to listen. 5 times, God called for
them to listen: “Hear this…” (v1), “Listen to me, O Jacob” (v12), “Assemble,
all of you, and listen” (v14), “Draw near to me, hear this” (v16), “Oh that you
had paid attention to my commandments (meaning if only you had listened)” (v18).
RELATE
It’s amazing how a text written more than 2500 years
ago is still unerringly relevant for God’s people today. We live under totally
different circumstances, yet the human conditions remain the same: superficial
profess of faith, idolatry, refusal to listen. The long history of humanity,
with all its advancements, could not resolve this issue. If anything, history
reinforced the fact that humans do not like to listen, and never seem to learn
from their ancestors’ mistakes.
To listen is not merely to hear words from a speaker,
nod in agreement, then get on with our routines. There are intentional steps to
listening. First is to realise that God speaks to us in many ways: through the
word, through teachers, through our concerned friends, and even through
non-Christians. If we hardly hear God speaking via these ways, perhaps we have
not conditioned ourselves to listen.
How do we prepare ourselves to listen? Recognising
this is a spiritual battle, with the devil distracting us, we use prayer as our
arsenal. We pray for our attitudes to be humble and open for learning, to be
more receptive to God’s teaching. We come with the desire to be ministered first,
rather than minster to others. Pride will pose as our main stumbling block to
listening. How much we are being ministered depends largely on our desire to
change ourselves, not on the speakers’ abilities or style. A better speaker may
make things easier to understand, but the most key factor is how much we own
our learning.
I once mentored a trainee teacher, who delivered what
I thought was a good lesson. He gathered feedback from the students and 70% of
them expressed that they learnt a lot. The other 30% didn’t enjoy as much and
requested for more fun activities. He was clearly affected by the 30% and when
I asked what he would have done differently, he suggested showing more entertaining
stuff, even if links to the concepts were a stretch.
I warned him against being too reactive and to discern
whether acceding to the students’ requests was a wise move. You can show magic
tricks. It would be fun to watch. Students would love it, but would that be an
effective lesson? Do those fun activities have strong links to the learning
objectives? That’s a trap many teachers fall into, in a bid to gain popularity with
their students. I told him that the truth is, there’s a group of students who
will always indicate dislike for the lesson, not due to the teaching, but due
to their attitudes towards education.
In the same way, do we go to church or small groups,
hoping for more humour in the message delivery, or be entertained with sensational stories and activities, yet not pay as much attention to what God is challenging
us to do? If we somehow have made a decision in our hearts not to change anything
about the way we live, no matter how good the message is (fun activities or
not), it will not have any effect on us. True listening takes humility, leads
to deeper reflection of self, which leads to positive change.
This section of Isaiah closes on a tragic note: “There
is no peace,” says the Lord, “for the wicked.” (Isaiah 48:22). It underlines
the severity of not listening to God. Failure to listen shuts us out from the
peace of God.
REST
As
we pray for God to speak to us, we must also prepare ourselves to receive. That
takes a humble and contrite heart.
Speak,
O Lord: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubRlJj8xkds
Chris Chong
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