From the first downbeat sounded in this chapter until the final note, God grabbed me and confronted me. Have I grown comfortable, lazy and uncaring? Do I live for myself, seeking pleasure when I could help and serve others who have real needs?
Verse1: Woe to you who are complacent in Zion … It becomes obvious as the chapter continues that complacency shows itself in Israel….well-off, living high –ivory couches, choice meats (in a day when eating meat was not a daily occurrence), and wine by the bowlful.
I contemplated the questions God presented to me above as I considered the option that I, too, could be complacent as described.
As the chapter neared its conclusion, God opened my eyes to a second demonstration of complacency that He despised. Verse 12b But you have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into bitterness. Not only were the well-off living for self, they were also denying justice to those in need. And if that weren’t enough, the general good they could/should be doing (living righteously), they had perverted so that what spewed out of them was like poison! [An example that came to me: instead of speaking kindly and nicely to others (righteous living) they spoke meanly and degradingly to others (poison)]
Oh, God, do I deny justice or close my eyes where I could speak or act for justice? Lord, have mercy on my soul.
Lord, do I change righteousness into poison with my manner of living? Lord, have mercy on me!
Lord God, pierce me with Your eyes, change me with Your Word, that I might live to lift up and help others in Your world… that others may see my good deeds and praise You, my Father in Heaven. Amen
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