Are you as smart as the Ox and donkey?

Isaiah 1:2-3

“Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord has spoken: “Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me.  The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's crib, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.”

Many of us have watched the commercial on television of the person asking what does your broker say, and the other person states, my broker is E.F. Hutton and everyone in ear shot listens to what the person is going to say.  The commercial states; when E.F. Hutton talks, people listen, but often when God speaks His children do not listen, so who is listening when God speaks?  We are told that the heavens and all who dwell there listen and the earth also listens, but God’s children did not.  The Lord makes clear that animals such as ox and donkey’s obey, and you do understand how stubborn a donkey can be.  But Israel or Judah is deaf to God’s voice and precepts, and God is going to put them on trial.

Is this something new?  God calling heaven and earth as His witnesses against all who forsake His promises, and the answer is no.  “Moses understood that human beings were not qualified to certify the durability and reliability of God’s promises, and since no other gods exist to serve as witnesses, Moses invoked heaven and earth to serve that function (30:19; 31:28).” (Holman Study Bible page 293) I believe that a word spoken to the wise is sufficient, so ponder the words of Moses: “For I must die in this land; I must not go over the Jordan. But you shall go over and take possession of that good land. Take care, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and make a carved image, the form of anything that the Lord your God has forbidden you. For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

“When you father children and children's children, and have grown old in the land, if you act corruptly by making a carved image in the form of anything, and by doing what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, so as to provoke him to anger, I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will soon utterly perish from the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess. You will not live long in it, but will be utterly destroyed.” (Deuteronomy 4:22-26, ESV)
Some of the last words of Moses before he handed off the leadership to Joshua are found in Deuteronomy 30:19-20, “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”
As we ponder the verses above, is God calling the heavens and earth as His witnesses against His church?  Are you and I smarter than the ox God refers to who knows his master, and the donkey that knows where its food comes from?
From the Back Porch,
Bob Rice