In a day like this

Isaiah 5:20-21

“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! (Isaiah 5:20, ESV)

Have you wondered what it would be like to live in such a time when evil is considered good?  Maybe it is time to take off the rose colored glasses, for this is such a time in the United States of America.  Our President lies, our Congress men/women lie, and those pulling the strings out of sight of the public view, are masters at calling darkness light and light darkness.  The media takes no pleasure in truth, but have become the chief of liars.  Now, as in the time of Isaiah, those who call evil good and good evil, have no fear of God, and no fear of man, they see themselves as the elite; the privileged, the richest and most powerful, but God, yes, they are in deep trouble.

Maybe the people of Isaiah’s day, and you and I should have listened to the prophet Amos who by his lips God spoke these words.  Beginning in Chapter 5:4-7, “For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel: “Seek me and live; but do not seek Bethel, and do not enter into Gilgal or cross over to Beersheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into exile, and Bethel shall come to nothing.” Seek the Lord and live, lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, with none to quench it for Bethel, O you who turn justice to wormwood and cast down righteousness to the earth!”  The three places mentioned above were three pilgrimage shrines where God had done mighty works in the past.  But Judea, much like the U.S.A., was not open to seeking God, in fact, if you keep reading in verses 10-15, you will see a people who let power control them and they became hostile to anyone who told the truth, even in the courts of law.  The honest person was being silenced.  In fact, as God began to withhold rain and the crops failed, they were confused; being God’s chosen people they believe wrongly that they would not see judgment in the “Day of the Lord.”

You may wonder if Jesus spoke to this subject of good being called evil and those (who put darkness for light and light for darkness)?  In Matthew’s account of the gospel we find these words from Jesus: “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” (Matthew 6:22-23, ESV)

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice