The Cure For Corruption

If you’re familiar with the Holy Spirit, you know how He convicts people of wrong behaviors. A friend of mine calls this uncomfortable awareness, “That stabby feeling.”

I got an annoying case of the ‘stabbies’ late last month and have been wrestling with it ever since. It started with borrowing my teen son’s bible.

I opened his bible randomly and read aloud this verse in Isaiah 32:9. “You women who are so complacent, rise up and listen to me; you daughters who feel secure, hear what I have to say!”  

I immediately got the stabby feeling and wasn’t sure why. Was God trying to tell me something?  Was I being complacent in some area of my life?  I wasn’t quite sure I wanted to go any further in this, but how could I ignore the Spirit?

I’ll be honest, my first intention for digging deeper into that verse was simply so I could get that little stabby feeling to go away. Basically, I wanted to tell the Holy Spirit to hush. Mature, I know.

Full disclosure: I have been a Christian for 28 years and my sum knowledge of the book of Isaiah has been zero up until this point. I think I have tended to skip over the books of the prophets because they are well, stabby. They remind me of how utterly sinful I am and how utterly holy God is.

The book of Isaiah is the prophesies of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, who ministered from about 740 to 680 B.C. He is talking to the people of Judah. I honestly wasn’t sure where or what Judah was. Here’s the Spark Notes version.

Israel had a civil war a long time ago and the bottom half of the nation became known as Judah. Think Northern Ireland versus Ireland.

Through Isaiah, God is letting the people of Judah know that He is absolutely exasperated at their sinful rebellion. The people of Judah were worshipping false gods, money, their own efforts. Their hearts were filled with corruption and all the outward symptoms were on full display – murder, thievery, bribery, ignoring the orphans and widows. There were plenty of religious ceremonies going on, but spiritually Judah was as dry as tinder.

This was written to a long-ago people; however, the Holy Spirit wasn’t done with me yet. More stabbies lay ahead.

This was what God said to the women of Judah. Usually you read about God getting really angry with the men, but these verses make it plain that God is an equal opportunity judge.  These women were inwardly ugly due to how they treated the poor. Because of that, God was going to strip them of all their outer beauty and take away everything they held dear. 

15 “What do you mean by crushing My people
And grinding the faces of the poor?”
Says the Lord God of hosts.

I found out that when God refers to Himself as the Lord God of Hosts, he is referring to the Hosts of Angels that He commands. Basically, that’s a dire warning label. “Don’t disobey Me, I have angels at the ready.”

¹⁶ Moreover the Lord says:

“Because the daughters of Zion are haughty,
And walk with outstretched necks
And wanton eyes,
Walking and mincing as they go,
Making a jingling with their feet,
¹⁷ Therefore the Lord will strike with a scab
The crown of the head of the daughters of Zion,
And the Lord will uncover their secret parts.”

Researching the root words helped me to understand that these women were turning their heads side to side, as if to check out who was checking them out. Their ‘mincing steps’ came from pace chains ~ belled chains attached to their anklets, in order to force a shorter pace with higher steps. This practice is employed today with horses to alter their gait. These ‘ladies’ wanted to be noticed.

Notice the use of “Because the daughters” in the beginning of the verse and the use of “Therefore the Lord” at the end.  God is not fickle with His discipline. Our modern language would say, “They had it coming.”  

⁸ In that day the Lord will take away the finery:
The jingling anklets, the scarves, and the crescents;
¹⁹ The pendants, the bracelets, and the veils;
²⁰ The headdresses, the leg ornaments, and the headbands;
The perfume boxes, the charms,
²¹     and the rings;
The nose jewels,
²²     the festal apparel, and the mantles;
The outer garments, the purses,
²³     and the mirrors;
The fine linen, the turbans, and the robes.

Whew! Reading the super-sized list of accessories, I am convinced that retail therapy has been a problem for women long before online shopping became ubiquitous.

²⁴ And so it shall be:

Instead of a sweet smell there will be a stench;
Instead of a sash, a rope;
Instead of well-set hair, baldness;
Instead of a rich robe, a girding of sackcloth;
And ^[p]branding instead of beauty.

I was confused about the branding part. I questioned – would these women be branded as property?  The verse about a sweet smell versus a stench helped me to find out. In the ancient Middle East, open (smelly) pustulent sores would be burned to heal them.  Um, ew.

²⁵ Your men shall fall by the sword,
And your mighty in the war.

²⁶ Her gates shall lament and mourn,
And she being desolate shall sit on the ground.

Isaiah 3:16 -26

God is not against wealth or prosperity, but these women’s minds were so fixated on their appearance that they were “Grinding the faces of the poor.”  

God is not against beauty either, but his definition is much different.  1st Peter chapter 3, verses 3 and 4 say, “Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.”

God would not let this form of self-idolatry stand. These women were about to suffer physically, sexually, emotionally. They would lose their men in battle and be left crying on the ground.

Years later coins would be minted with the name ‘Judea Capta’ to celebrate the capture of the Jewish people. On the coin is an image of a defeated woman with her hand on her head and a triumphant Roman soldier.

So here I am, weeks of research later and I had to ask myself, “What is the Spirit saying to me?”

I needed extra time to research and process all this. Why the sense of conviction when I am not a fashion plate who rubs it in the face of the poor?

I have several thoughts. First, the Holy Spirit speaks to each person differently and for different reasons. Second, I used to be like those women before I knew the love of God and His standard for beauty. Third, anything can become an idol if it makes us forget the immeasurable love of God.  The recent pandemic has opened my eyes to all the mini idols I have been guilty of worshipping.  For me personally, I have made ‘convenience’ into an idol. I have ten children, so I tend to frequent places that keep my life streamlined.

It’s my petty Burger King motto mentality. “Have it your way.”   I have been slowed down to a snail’s pace as of late, which is in some ways very good. It reminds me to observe God’s beautiful creation. I spent ten minutes watching bees pollinating an azalea bush the other day. I drank in the heady aroma of a lilac bush in bloom. 

Slowing down has exposed my tendency to want the world to run as I like it. To treat others with less patience as I wait for life to resume. There are people in far worse situations, and I often forget that when hit by another pesky convenience craving.

I have been a woman of complacency. Complacency has stemmed from convenience. I used to be able to go to church when “I felt like it,” and I admit that that urge wasn’t as potent as it should have been.

This pandemic has placed a unique set of pace chains upon my ankles. Slowing down my pace. Not so that I will be noticed. So that HE will be noticed. God’s deep love and our obedience to Him is the cure for a corrupted heart, then, now and always.

4 comments