There are those days when we think we have it all together, all the ducks in a row, causing us to build our pride and wonder why others don’t do things like we do things so they can have it all together.  This is dangerous thinking that comes right before organized ducks swim away, life falls apart at the seams, and we wonder way this is happening to us.  We need to “get off our high horses” and ask God what He wants.

Isaiah tells the enemy who has swooped in with no compassion for God’s people, full of pride, with evil minds seeking to destroy all those who are not like them that the end is near for what they have done.  Punishment is on the horizon.  God does not let evil go unpunished.

Isaiah 47, The Message

^1-3 “Get off your high horse and sit in the dirt,
    virgin daughter of Babylon.
No more throne for you—sit on the ground,
    daughter of the Chaldeans.
Nobody will be calling you ‘charming’
    and ‘alluring’ anymore. Get used to it.
Get a job, any old job:
    Clean gutters, scrub toilets.
Pawn your gowns and scarves,
    put on your working pants—the party’s over.
Your nude body will be on public display,
    exposed to vulgar taunts.
It’s vengeance time, and I’m taking vengeance.
    No one gets let off the hook.”

You’re Acting Like the Center of the Universe

^4-13 Our Redeemer speaks,
    named God-of-the-Angel-Armies, The Holy of Israel:
“Shut up and get out of the way,
    daughter of Chaldeans.
You’ll no longer be called
    ‘First Lady of the Kingdoms.’
I was fed up with my people,
    thoroughly disgusted with my progeny.
I turned them over to you,
    but you had no compassion.
You put old men and women
    to cruel, hard labor.
You said, ‘I’m the First Lady.
    I’ll always be the pampered darling.’
You took nothing seriously, took nothing to heart,
    never gave tomorrow a thought.

Well, start thinking, party girl.
    You’re acting like the center of the universe,
Smugly saying to yourself, ‘I’m Number One. There’s nobody but me.
    I’ll never be a widow, I’ll never lose my children.’
Those two things are going to hit you both at once,
    suddenly, on the same day:
Spouse and children gone, a total loss,
    despite your many enchantments and charms.
You were so confident and comfortable in your evil life,
    saying, ‘No one sees me.’
You thought you knew so much, had everything figured out.
    What delusion!
    Smugly telling yourself, ‘I’m Number One. There’s nobody but me.’

Ruin descends—
    you can’t charm it away.
Disaster strikes—
    you can’t cast it off with spells.
Catastrophe, sudden and total—
    and you’re totally at sea, totally bewildered!
But don’t give up. From your great repertoire
    of enchantments there must be one you haven’t yet tried.
You’ve been at this a long time.
    Surely something will work.
I know you’re exhausted trying out remedies,
    but don’t give up.
Call in the astrologers and stargazers.
    They’re good at this. Surely they can work up something!

^14-15 “Fat chance. You’d be grasping at straws
    that are already in the fire,
A fire that is even now raging.
    Your ‘experts’ are in it and won’t get out.
It’s not a fire for cooking venison stew,
    not a fire to warm you on a winter night!
That’s the fate of your friends in sorcery, your magician cronies
    you’ve been colluding with all your life.
They reel, confused, bumping into one another.
    None of them bother to help you.”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

God sees and hears all, is in control of all situations, even before we live the circumstance.  He has a plan.  We respond with obedience to God’s plan and not our own.

We can learn from the Babylonians attack and takeover of God’s People.  When God steps in—everything changes.  Neither Babylon’s idols nor her occult practices was able to warn her or prepare her for her destruction. But God knew that Babylon would fall because He had planned it ages ago! He called Cyrus, who swooped down on Babylon like a bird of prey. Babylon had shown no mercy to the Jews, and God judged them accordingly.

We need to all “shut up and get out of the way” of God’s will, purpose, ways, and plan.  Nothing will stop God from what God has planned for His people.  Nothing.  The more we realize this truth, the more we will grow in God’s character.

Lord,

Help us to know you more.  Help us to hear your voice above all other voices that shout the opposite of who you are and what you want to do in and through us.  Help us to know the depths of your love for us.  The more we realize the unlimited, unconditional love you have for us and fill our souls with that love, the more we love others like you love us.  School me in your love.

In Jesus Name, Amen