From Blessings to Judgements

Scripture:

Isaiah 3:1-4 (ESV)

For behold, the Lord God of hosts
    is taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah
support and supply,
    all support of bread,
    and all support of water;
the mighty man and the soldier,
    the judge and the prophet,
    the diviner and the elder,
the captain of fifty
    and the man of rank,
the counselor and the skillful magician
    and the expert in charms.
And I will make boys their princes,
    and infants shall rule over them.

Devotional:

When the Israelites left Egypt, they were promised great things if they stayed the course with God.  All they had to do was stay true to Him and in His ways.  Israel ended up wandering in the desert for forty years because they failed to trust God and fully follow His commands.  During the times of the judges they had good times when they all turned to God.  They had bad times when they strayed from God.

After king Solomon God gave the Israelites warnings and sent profit after profit to get His people back.  Isaiah is giving warning of what is to come.  God is going to remove His blessings.  In fact, He is going to take everything away to get His people to refocus on Him.  He is going to remove all competent leadership. 

One of my thoughts on this comes to a belief I have.  God does not call those who are qualified.  In fact, the less you know or can do the better.  I know you are asking why He would not call someone flowing with qualifications.  Let’s take a look at war.  If you go to war and you have the best generals and military leaders who gets the credit?  If you are honest with yourself, you would say the military leaders.  After all we credit winning the civil war in great parts to General Grant.  In WWII we give Eisenhower a ton of credit.  But where is God?  Take a look at Gideon.  He was the least of his clan.  His clan was the least of the Israelites.  He new nothing about leading people or fighting battles.  But look at what he accomplished.  It wasn’t because of what Gideon did.  It was what God did.

In Isaiah’s time Israel more often than not strayed from God.  They strayed so much so for so long God finally withdrew His blessings and placed judgement upon them.  In these first verses of chapter three God is taking everything away from them.  He even removes competent and instrumental leaders.  Instead he allowed anyone to become a leader.  Qualifications to lead were not much more than you are breathing and able to stand upright. (This is my wording for the first few verses in Isaiah 3.)

I think the reasons for what God is going here is two-fold.  First the people are no longer blessed and have fallen into God’s judgement.  Second, I believe this is an attempt to get His people to return and rely upon Him.  I will end with this small thought.  To fix any problem or overcome any situation all you need to do is focus on God.  Any family, community, or nation can be fixed and blessed if they only turn to God.  All you need is to trust and obey…