The problem with the world is ME!
If we’re honest with ourselves, our unspoken words often reveal the true condition of our heart, writes Leon Evans.
Isaiah launches into the use of one of his favourite words – ‘woe’. In fact, in the previous chapter, lots of people receive a tirade of his woes! Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field till no space is left and you live alone in the land… Woe to those who rise early in the morning to run after their drinks… Woe to those who call evil good and good evil… Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight, (Isaiah 5:8,11,20-21).
Woe is commonly understood to mean a great sadness, and have you noticed how easy it is to spot things that makes us sad in others – but not in ourselves? Isn’t it true that what others say or do makes perfect sense to them, but rarely makes perfect sense to us? We often judge others based on their actions, but judge ourselves based on our intentions.
Isaiah had a gift for spotting woe in others, but here it changes as the vision of God’s divine majesty leads to a personal awakening that leads to brutal honesty: “‘Woe to me!’ he cried.
‘I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty,’” (Isaiah 6:5).
… story continues
