Daily Prophets
Day 74
“They have put their trust in abundance of chariots, in vast numbers of riders, and they have not turned to the Holy One of Israel, they have not sought God. God has not cancelled God’s word, God will rise against the evildoers and the allies of the workers of iniquity. Return to God whom you have deeply revolted, for on that day, everyone will reject his idols of silver and gold which your hands have made in error.”(Isaiah 31:1,2,6)
Isaiah is continuing his rant against going to Egypt and making an alliance. He is trying to remind the people that Egypt made them slaves after they opened their doors to Jacob and the family. He is reminding the people, in the first verse, to turn to God. In every age, they have tried to kill us and God has saved us. Yes, God uses human power to do this, yes, it seems as if God is absent, yet Isaiah is telling us that this isn’t true. We need to seek God and not Egypt, not power. Our power will come from God and living God’s principles.
We think that we can just appease God and other people after we have betrayed them with false words and half-assed actions. Isaiah is telling us NO, that will not work this time. Mercy and grace have been shown and have their place, yet so does experiencing the natural consequences of one’s behavior. In a time where everyone wants to sue anyone when their “feelings” get hurt, accuse anyone of assaulting their dignity, ignore their responsibility in any and all matters, just be a victim, etc-these words are stark reminders that justice will prevail.
In spite of all of this, on that day that we return to God, on that day that we do T’Shuvah, God will accept us, welcome us and heal us. On that day we return in truth, in humility, with deep remorse and responsibility, God will grant us grace and mercy. We have made so many idols, we have made so many alliances with power, we have turned to the people with “chariots and riders” for so long, we are almost immune to the destruction we are/have caused.
Rabbi Heschel teaches us regarding Hezekiah: “ My enemy’s enemy is my friend, was his belief.”(The Prophets, pg.70). ”Isaiah could not accept politics as a solution since politics itself, with its arrogance and disregard of justice, was a problem.”(ibid. pg.73) How apropos for us today. How often are we willing to make the false alliances that Isaiah is constantly speaking of. How often do we deceive ourselves to put faith and trust in Hezekiah’s thinking about “friends” and how often do we turn our backs on and rebel against God? These teachings of Rabbi Heschel are making me cringe in remembering how often this happens in personal and global history.
Our politicians are the problem, they are arrogant and disregard justice when it is convenient for them. They make these false alliances with the people they would not have a meal with if it wasn’t mandated by form. They have forgotten that they are servants of We, the People and of God. They have made alliances with Egypt, with hate groups, with groups who want to sue over everything rather than having a conversation. They have made alliances with power, not with God, not with faith. They continue to squeeze goodness and kindness out of their lives and way of being, they continue to crush the mercy and grace that God shows to the poor, the needy, the stranger. We, the people, have to turn back to God, we have to follow God’s will and force our political leaders to also.
In recovery, we know that we cannot make deals/alliances with Egypt. We can’t turn our backs on God who has saved us from the very Egypt that we are thinking of making a deal with! We are ever vigilant to continue to return to God. We have experienced the pain of God’s rising up against our evildoing and are grateful for God’s grace and mercy to finally hear God’s call to return. We know the idols we created, we remember them with reverence for their power over us and we stay a safe distance away, knowing that any alliance with them will bring ruin upon us. In recovery, we focus on our return, we focus on doing a little more each day to be a little more worthy of the grace, mercy, kindness and love that God gives daily.
In my life, in recovery and before, I made the errors that Isaiah is railing about. I see the dangers of false alliances, I feel the pain of these alliances gone bad (which they always do), I understand my errors in judgement triggering God’s rising up against my “evildoing”. I realize the people who have to vilify me (especially the ones who used to be ‘my friends’) are God’s reminder about trusting in the “workers of iniquity”. I am so aware of all of this thanks to Isaiah. I know and recommit to seeking God’s strength and power to face life and live life on God’s Terms. I know and recommit to seek alliances that are true, that are based on win/win inputs and outcomes. I know and recommit to being more aware when I am seeking to rely on human power for spiritual sustenance and moral responses. I know and recommit to rejecting the idolatry of seeing people for who I want them to be, not who they are. I know and recommit to standing for God and God’s principles in my own passionate manner. I know and recommit to standing with God in all of my affairs. What do you know and how are you recommitting to God today? Stay safe and God Bless, Rabbi Mark