Again, Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem are warned that because they falsely trust Egypt to save them, they will be overthrown by Assyria. The commander of Assyria provides this warning and threat. He reminds them that it is their own God, who is turning them over to them because of their infidelity. The commander tells them, boldly and in front of all the people, "Furthermore, have I come to attack and destroy this land without the Lord? The Lord himself told me to march against this country and destroy it." (Isa 35:10 NIV)
Now the leaders of Israel would really prefer that this commander were speaking in another language, in Aramaic rather than Hebrew, so that the ordinary people would not hear and understand the dire straights that they were in. But, the commander refuses. The people are going to hear. If they are going to suffer the same judgment as their leaders than they really should have a heads up on what is going on and what is coming!
That goes not only for that day, but for ours as well. I believe that we have a right to know what our government is planning. I believe we have a need to know about potential threats and what our government plans to do about it. Listening to the news, as I cleaned house last night, I could not help but think that we have a few too many government agencies who are doing top secret things that maybe we (the people) should know more about before they even begin these activities. Top Secret is beginning to sound more akin to doing something that the people may not approve of or maybe God does not approve of, so lets keep it a secret so the ordinary people don't know what trouble we are leading them into.
As most of you know, the media can drive me nuts at times. They seem to do a lot of surmising without a lot of facts. However, it is beginning to be revealed that this surmising sometimes brings out truth that would otherwise be hidden from the ordinary people, the average voter. It reminds me of the commander of the Assyrian Army speaking to the leaders of Israel in full hearing of the people on the wall and telling them that the people need to know so that they can understand the consequences of the leaders' decisions. Some of the decisions being made today appear to have some possible far reaching possibilities for negating the constitutional freedoms and rights of the people. There may be many consequences for us all that we have not even begun to imagine by trusting in a government before trusting in God.
This morning, as detestable as some of the things I hear on the news is (and some of it sadly is mere gossip), I am thanking God that there are whistle-blowers out there who report on not so constitutional activities of the government and a media that is not afraid to report it.
May we all be so truthful so that we can all be prepared for whatever may befall us in our tomorrows.
God's Peace - Pr. J
BTW - did you notice how in the face of internal problems with our own government, we don't hear so much about North Korea? Why is that, I wonder?
Sorry if I offend anyone this morning. As a reminder, this blog, is to remind you to read the chapter for the day and I will comment as it stirs up thoughts in my own heart and mind. These are my thoughts this morning....
