Some parts of the Bible are more fun to read than others.
Some are filled with rich stories. Others offer promises designed to bring us comfort. Yet others are put together to get us to stop, think about what we are doing and the nature of the God who created us and how each of those two ideas interact with each other to guide our future.
This section of Isaiah is definitely in the latter category.
“Disaster is roaring down on you from the desert,
like a whirlwind sweeping in from the Negev,” Isaiah writes to kick off Chapter 21.
“I see a terrifying vision,” he continues in verse 2.
The vision is the destruction of Babylon, the nation that has inflicted more pain and anguish on God’s beloved creation than any other. The reason for the destruction is obvious. Nobody messes with God’s righteous plans without facing the consequences. God’s kindness, his goodness, his fondness for humanity and abundant life won’t allow it.
By the end of Isaiah 21:2, we have the why behind the terror in writing. “I will make an end to all the groaning Babylon caused.”
God is a God of action. He does not avoid the difficult decisions. He doesn’t shy away from making the changes he needs to make, but that doesn’t always mean we understand his timing.
Later in Isaiah (Chapter 55:8-9) we are reminded that our ways are not God’s ways. Rescue is at hand, but we do not always find it showing up in the way we thought.
At the end of the day, God’s action is Isaiah 21 is a foreshadow of what is to come. Revelation 21 tells us there will be a day where there will be “…no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”
Until that day, we are called to understand God’s action in the world to be just. Easier said than done. As we work through this journey, we are also called to understand his justice to be restorative. God doesn’t wage war against Babylon, or death, or anything else in this world because he wants to. It is because he has to.
He knows the end of the story. He knows it won’t do. God gets to work bringing peace. In our own way, we are called to do the same…not with painful or violent destruction, but restorative love.
May it be true of us.
Amen.
Questions for reflection:
- What breaks your heart most about the world around us?
- Where do you see God’s just action working to combat the injustice?
- Where do you wish you saw more of God’s just action in action?
- What other truths are you tempted to believe or doubt about God as you look at the world around us?
- Where is God calling you to bring and advocate his loving, restorative justice to the world around us?