Isaiah 47:1-7 – We are only instrument in God’s hand

God had given the assurance that His people would be delivered from the Babylonian captivity and be restored to their own land. Cyrus would be the person God was going to use for His rescue operation. Now as we come to Isaiah 47, we find a shift in focus. Cyrus would not be the main topic but Babylon, the nation that would bring the people of God into captivity.  God began addressing the once proud people in their humiliation. Using the female gender, God was here found mocking them. Reading these verses. one cannot get away from the fact that how God has an intense dislike for pride. He detests it. A lesson here for us to take away.

 

In verses 1-4, we see Babylon portrayed as a proud virgin that had been humiliated and brought low. Devoid of her former glory, Babylon and her people were pictured as sitting in the dust and forced to engage in menial tasks. Babylon was no longer like that tender and delicate lady sitting dignifiedly waiting to be served. But instead, she was now forced to the millstone to grind flour, which was a task assigned to a lowly slave. Isaiah here also guaranteed that the Chaldeans themselves would be led into captivity. They were described as docile ladies made to spread the legs, thread across the river, and be led into captivity. The nation’s violated dignity was described as a lady stripped of her garment and her nakedness shamefully exposed. God would spare none of the Chaldeans. Asserting His covenant name Yahweh, God called Himself Israel’s Redeemer and their Holy One. Babylon was facing the dealing of the Lord of Hosts.

God guaranteed that they would be brought into obscurity and no longer be that once glorious kingdom. The reason why He dealt so severely with them was that they were not measured in their dealing with Judah, His people. They were only supposed to be God’s instrument to align Judah’s unfaithfulness, but they had abused and violated their role. They failed to see that they were finally accountable to God. Hence, they cruelly and mercilessly treated God’s people. They had overstepped their bounds and behaved as if they would be reigning forever.

In these verses are some predisposing factors that will invite the Lord’s displeasure on one’s life. Pride, boasting, presumption, and arrogance often make one oblivious of how obnoxious one can be. God will give grace to the humble but to the proud, God would resist. Bear in mind that all things that we have, and all roles we play are God-given. We must grasp them gently, realizing that we are accountable to God. If we are God’s instruments of discipline to deal with the wayward, remember to act mercifully like God would. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.