A Devotional Thought From Isaiah

… our adversaries have trodden down thy sanctuary.     Isaiah 63:18

          In one of the places where Israel is pictured as crying out to God because of the oppression of their enemies, Isaiah represents their words as: our adversaries have trodden down thy sanctuary. To the Israeli people the glory of their God and religion was seen in their place of worship, the Temple in Jerusalem. Sometimes it appears that their regard for the place of worship probably exceeded their regard for God, himself. But at their best the Temple was for them the holy location where they got close to God through worship in the midst of their everyday lives. So on this occasion when their enemies invaded and overwhelmed them they called to God telling him that the Temple was trodden down by those who had come in to do harm. The invaders had desecrated their holy building of worship. The enemies did it. Those who wish to harm us did it. Those who do not believe in God did it. Whatever the background that caused this mess, and the back story was spiritually significant, the trashing of the Temple physically was not done by the residents of Jerusalem themselves.

          In a modern-day contrast the riots in Baltimore, Maryland on April 27, 2015 appear to be the opposite. The back story is significant also, but the actual trashing of the city was done by the people of that city themselves. Even with the legitimate questions awaiting answers from the police investigation concerning the death of a man in police custody, and the criticisms of police procedures which apparently go back for years into the past, the looting, burning, and trashing of the place you live and love is an irresponsible and sinful act. Sin is the missing word in the reports of this mayhem and others like it. Sin blinds people to the harm their actions do to others. There are other words some want to apply to the situation like frustration, rage, anger, misunderstanding, but none of these justify the burning of one’s own neighborhood and city. In this case, while there were some outside agitators, the majority of harm to the city of Baltimore appears to have been done by the very people who live there proving the Bible’s teaching that people who yield to sin in their lives are among their own worst enemies.