Tight belts

No one is weary or stumbles, None slumbers or sleeps; Nor is the belt at its waist undone, Nor its sandal strap broken. Isaiah 5:26

This looks like a blessing, right? This is a case of Don't Take Scripture Out Of Context!

Who will not be weary or undo their belt? The enemy that God sends to destroy the wicked. And the wicked were His own people. They were those who taunted God, wondering if He had any power or might, any justice or goodness.

And above all, those who “Call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness;Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight! Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine and valiant men in mixing strong drink, who justify the wicked for a bribe, and take away the rights of those who are in the right! (vs. 20-23)

I was a niave child. I believed everything and everyone. But there were a few things I had a hard time with...like thinking that anyone could possibly believe that bad things were good. I remember thinking even in my adult life that there was no way a civilization like ours could call good evil and evil good. Unfortunately, I have lived to see that day. Abortion is good and those who oppose it are evil. Homosexuality is good and those who think it perverted are evil. Marriage in many ways is considered evil and living together is good. Church people are evil and narrow-minded, and those who give out condoms and bad psychological advise like follow your own heart are good. We try to have it both ways...we want to do our own will and then panic as a culture when the consequences of it come home to roost, like kids living in poverty because their birth parents are irresponsible, unmarried, and committed only to their own happiness, which they will never find because they don't realize that it is found in God, His design for the family, and in hard work and self-sacrifice.

The belt of the tormentor will not be loosed. The sandal straps will always be tightly tied. It is amazing that Satan tempts us into this sort of sin, and then runs after us, tormenting us with its consequences and guilt. He never quits chasing us, stabbing us, running us from town to town with no refuge to be found. It is a sad, endless deal we have here on the earth, especially when we choose to live this way instead of bowing to God, accepting the beauty, tho in a fallen state here, of His design. We will never have it perfect here on earth, but we will have God's favor and presence, and that will make life worth the living. We won't be chased by the enemy when God is our shield. He will defend us when we hide in Him, and not from Him.

So this is not a pretty scene...we see over and over the imagery of the enemy chasing us to and fro, shooting arrows and making war against us because of our sin...and God letting this happen. Is there no hope for the human race? Is there no peace to be had? There is no mistake that chapter 5 is one of the most dismal of all of scripture.

But then there is Chapter 6! One of my favorites. We will study it further soon, but suffice it to say, Isaiah is chased right into the throne room of God Himself! And he confesses his own sin and the sin of his people, and God took away his iniquity and forgave his sin. If Satan can chase us, let it be to the throne of God, where forgiveness and mercy are available now to those who come to him seeing their sin for what it is, and their mouths confess God's holiness and their own desperate condition. For now, that is what the throne of God offers to those who approach it (Hebrews 4), but some day, those will be brought to it who refused to come in repentance. They will not find mercy, but judgment. Satan himself will stand there condemned, and those who followed him here, or are chased by him here, will follow him into the pit. There will never be an end to the consequences of his evil or theirs. Those who follow him willingly on earth will follow him unwillingly to hell. It's a hard pill to swallow, for we all want to see forgiveness and mercy doled out to the sinner. Be not deceived...God wants that, too. Satan has people convinced that God will change His mind later about the whole judgment thing and keeps them from repenting now and turning to God for His mercy WHILE IT MAY BE FOUND, which is TODAY! Hebrews speaks of people refusing to enter HIS REST. We enter the fortress where the enemy can no longer harass us. Satan chases us all around, trying to block the site of that safe place for our souls, keeping people from seeing the One who will cleanse and forgive and show us how to have rest, clean conscience, and hope.

People, if you are being chased, run to the One who will show you mercy instead of chasing you relentlessly, who will clean your sin and shelter you instead of running from one sin to another to try to find a way out of your misery.

Turn to Jesus. Enter the throne room and let Him do the cleaning that we cannot do on our own.