Year 6, Day 18: Isaiah 34

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Appetite, Calling

• Appetite: We all have needs that need to be filled.  When we allow ourselves to be filled with the people and things that God brings into our life, we will be satisfied because our In will be in proper focus.  But when we try to fill ourselves with our own desires we end up frustrated by an insatiable hunger.
• Calling asks whether or not God has called the person to the particular work at this point in their life.

When we look at this chapter, we see that the Lord is angry at the nations and once more bringing judgment against them.  As I explain in the commentary that I wrote three years prior, it is easy to read these words and understand that what the Lord is truly sick about is our violent tendencies towards each other. 

Let’s use Assyria for the test case example.  God called Assyria to bring His people under judgment.  But Assyria went too far.  They enjoyed destroying the Hebrew people.  They enjoyed enslaving them.  They enjoyed crushing their spirits.  God may have given them the power to do the task, but they certainly didn’t do the task according to God’s will.  God called them; they didn’t respond according to their calling.

God hates our violent tendencies.  He hates how we look to take what we can from others.  He hates how we try to dominate over one another.  He hates how we cannot treat each other with love and respect and grace and instead simply long to increase our own status in the world.  That’s where appetite comes in.  We hunger and thirst for the wrong things and we’ll be judged for it.

But there is more to it than just God reacting to our inability to listen to His calling and instead living through our appetite.  In the end of this chapter, Isiah gives us the test case of Edom.  We are told that Edom will flow with burning pitch.  What is pitch good for?  Pitch is good for keeping out water and keeping things on fire.  In other words, pitch is good for keeping out the soothing refreshment water brings and inflaming what’s left.  In the midst of God’s judgment, He will let us do what we do naturally.  He will let our appetite keep us from enjoying the peace that only comes from Him.

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