Boo Hoo
Read Isaiah 19:1–23:18
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1. This message came to me concerning Jerusalem—the Valley of Vision: What is happening? Why is everyone running to the rooftops?
2. The whole city is in a terrible uproar. What do I see in this reveling city? Bodies are lying everywhere, killed not in battle but by famine and disease.
3. All your leaders have fled. They surrendered without resistance. The people tried to slip away, but they were captured, too.
4. That’s why I said, “Leave me alone to weep; do not try to comfort me. Let me cry for my people as I watch them being destroyed.”
5. Oh, what a day of crushing defeat! What a day of confusion and terror brought by the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, upon the Valley of Vision! The walls of Jerusalem have been broken, and cries of death echo from the mountainsides. Isaiah 22:1-5
Do you cry at movies? Some people do. Eyes and noses just drip, flow, and gush uncontrollably. People cry when overcome with great emotion—at the movies and in real life.
In this reading, Isaiah weeps because God’s people are destroying themselves. He warns them repeatedly. But they just aren’t listening. What’s a prophet to do? What would you do?
This reading also contains the second half of the list of prophecies against Judah’s neighbors (Egypt, Ethiopia, Babylon, Edom, Arabia, and Tyre). If you thought God was singling out Judah for punishment, think again.
Isaiah delivered God’s messages to God’s people, but that didn’t mean that Isaiah was just a courier. As a fellow Judean, Isaiah cared deeply for his and God’s people. Isaiah knew that because the Judeans did not heed God’s warnings, they would experience his judgment. This saddened Isaiah and he wept for them (Isaiah 22:4).
Sometimes family and friends ignore our attempts to help, so they suffer the very grief we wanted to spare them. At these times we grieve because of our concern.
Have you pulled back from getting close to someone because of a fear of getting hurt? It can be tempting to insulate yourself from hurt by avoiding all close relationships. But God wants you, like Isaiah, to love others. To love someone carries with it the risk of getting hurt by that person’s choices. But be willing to take that risk, and trust God for the outcome.
