The LORD saw… that there was no justice.
Isaiah 59:15
Isaiah 59 paints an astonishing picture of the world in his day and of our culture today, using three broad brushstrokes.
1. Truth. “Truth has stumbled in the public squares, and uprightness cannot enter. Truth is lacking” (59:14–15). Isn’t that right where we are? Our whole culture has been taken with the idea that truth is just the way you see it; it’s what’s true for you. When truth stumbles in the streets, justice falters in the courts.
2. Justice. “No one enters suit justly; no one goes to law honestly; they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies”
(59:4). When truth is lost, justice cannot be found. When a culture is given over to selfishness and greed, the courts become about winning and we find ourselves in a world of spin where it is hard to know what is true and right.
3. Life. “Your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity” (59:3). We cannot read this without thinking about the millions of unborn babies whose lives have been taken in this country over the past few decades.
We are a culture that is losing justice. We are losing integrity, trustworthiness, truthfulness, loving your neighbour as yourself and caring about the plight of others as if it were our own. At the root of the problem today lies a tide of selfishness, an enormous failure to look out for others as we look out for ourselves, and a massive indulgence in living beyond our means.
We can hope and pray that our leaders deal wisely with the economy. But our leaders cannot deal with the greed and selfishness of the human heart. Only God can do that. And that’s what Isaiah is talking about here.
Would you ask God today to show you where you are contributing to our failure to look out for one another and/or living beyond our means?
