Daily Prophets
Day 44
“In that day the radiance of Adonai will lend beauty and glory and the splendor of the land will give dignity and majesty to the survivors of Israel and those who remain in Zion and are left in Jerusalem. All who are inscribed for life in Jerusalem shall be called Holy. When my Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and from Jerusalem’s midst has rinsed out her infamy in a spirit of judgement and spirit of purging.”(Isaiah 4:2-4)
While this is a lot of text, I have it here to put into context what Isaiah is prophecizing. He has been speaking about the fall of Israel and Judah in the earlier chapters and here in this chapter he is speaking about what happens after the fall-the return. We are going to have to experience the consequences of our behaviors and then we will return.
“In that day” gives a certainty that Adonai will redeem the people once they turn back and call out to God. Not only will they return, they will return in beauty, glory, dignity and majesty-all the attributes we so desperately seek now and then through our own ego-driven selfish ways.
Isaiah is calling out to us now as he did to the people then, stop this rebellion against God. Stop believing that God doesn’t care, stop selling your soul for a pot of gold. Stop selling your neighbor because he his poor, stop taking advantage of people’s misery and despair, stop using their vulnerabilities against them. STOP!
Why stop we might say? Because God wants us back. The words of the prophet Isaiah are so clear as to God’s desires and intentions. God wants us back and knows that we have to experience the logical consequences of our behaviors. God knows that the path back to our authentic selves and being has to be through purging the dross as a result of the idolatry we practiced/practice.
God wants us back so much that God will rinse the infamy, the shame, the filth from us. God doesn’t want us to carry this shame, filth, etc with us in our return and new life. God knows that we can and must be relieved of this shame so we are then called Holy, dignified, majestic with beauty, glory and splendor adorning us. If this isn’t love, what is?
If our politicians in Washington could stop their lies, deceits, double talk and standards, we might all be ready for the splendor, dignity, glory and redemption that Isaiah is calling us to. Yet, these self-righteous bigots practice their mendacity without any shame, without realizing the filth that they are spreading will stick to them, and that they will live in infamy for their behaviors and their attempt to ruin the democratic way of the United States of America. These so-called ‘religious men and women’ who want to promote idolatrous versions of the New Testament, ignore the truth of the Hebrew Bible and wrap themselves in Jesus Christ, all the while going against his foundational teachings and contributing to the deaths of some of the 500,000 people we have lost from Covid-19 through their inaction and support of the lies of Trump, et.al. Hypocrisy doesn’t describe their behavior, Isaiah’s words do it much better. Yet, they do not hear the call of Isaiah and continue down the destructive path of seeking only power to enhance them, not help others to this day. How sad for all of us! We the people are going to have to vote them out so they can be purged of the dross and hatred, cleaned of their infamy and filth.
In recovery, we know that only God can fully clean us up and we know the judgement and purging that we have gone through to reach our recovery. “In that day” is everyday for us otherwise we will go back to the filth and infamy of our past very quickly. Each and every day we “sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God…”. We continue to bask in God’s light so we can soak up and imbue God’s radiance, beauty and splendor. Each day we seek to recognize and live a more dignified life by owning our infinite dignity as a gift from God and honoring the dignity of another(s) human being that is their birthright from God. People in recovery knows the experience of God washing over us and cleansing us, as an act of Grace. Our recovery is rooted in our spiritual condition and our spiritual condition is dependent on our connection to God and our gratitude for life, for our dignity, for our return, for our cleansing is the basis of our connection to God.
I have been blessed to have risen from the ashes of my mendacity, filth, infamy to being clean, whole and alive with hope and promise. No matter what has happened in these years of recovery, no matter what errors I have made/experienced, God has purged me of resentment and, after I did my T’shuvahs, washed away my shame and guilt. I live a life without holding onto resentments, looking forward and leaving the past where it belongs, in the past. I work hard not to practice idolatry, seeking false gods, false people and false sense of self. Life is truly glorious and majestic. Have you experienced being purged of guilt and shame? how are you experiencing dignity? Stay safe and God Bless, Rabbi Mark