The Question we all have Ask

Isaiah 6:11-13

You do not have to be a follower of Jesus, no, not even a Christian to fully grasp the next question Isaiah is asking the Lord.  How long, is the question I’ve been asking since a child, and I bet you have too?  How long will it take to get to granddad’s house, how long will it take to paint the eaves of the house, how long will that new project take, and the list goes on, and on, and on?  Shall we look at both the question and the answer; “Then I said, “How long, O Lord?”  And he said: “Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is a desolate waste, and the Lord removes people far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.  And though a tenth remain in it, it will be burned again, like a terebinth or an oak, whose stump remains when it is felled.” The holy seed is its stump.” (Isaiah 6:11-13, ESV)

Yes, the question we all understand, but the Lord’s answer to Isaiah should be somewhat troubling, “Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is a desolate waste, and the Lord removes people far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.”  Now if you have been with us up to this point in the study of Isaiah, you have some understanding of the answer, the people as a whole are living independently from God’s authority. 

Have you ever been given an assignment and going into it you were told it was necessary but your efforts would not change one thing, that is what the Lord told Isaiah, and maybe that is why Isaiah asked “how long”?  So going into his mission Isaiah knew that the message would not be heard, and God’s people would not repent.  When they experienced destruction, a few would remain, like a stump when a great tree is brought down.

What can we the American Church learn from this, first and foremost God has not changed, and Isaiah’s message is relevant to us, and the question, is not how long, but will we listen, for God has spoken?

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice