“I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, “Here I am, here I am,” to a nation that was not called by my name.” Isaiah 65:1 ESV.
Reflection: how would you describe someone who is arrogant?
Arrogance might be the single, most self-limiting and destructive attitudes found in humanity. It is a total roadblock for improvement and growth. And, we probably have all had the experience of talking with, perhaps working with, someone who is very arrogant. But what is “arrogance”? The Webster dictionary defines it as “an offensive attitude of superiority shown especially by excessively confident or rudely dismissive behavior“ Wow! That’s a great description. An attitude of superiority and excessive confidence. And, what happens when you try to show an arrogant person anything? Even if you have significantly more experience and knowledge than them? They act as if they still know better than you. And ultimately the result is that we start avoiding them, as they really “can’t be helped”. It can be very frustrating if you have to be around such people. But arrogance is nothing new. We can even trace it back to the original fall, when Satan convinced Eve that she knew better, even better than God.
How utterly arrogant!
But wait, before we shake our heads at Eve, and whoever arrogant individual we have tried to help before, let’s look at ourselves first. Do we also fall for this trap now and then? Are we arrogant before God? In today’s focus verse, we read of the Lord’s tremendous frustration and anger with His people as they are rebellious against Him. Let’s read it again, including v2. “I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, “Here I am, here I am,” to a nation that was not called by my name. I spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices;” Isaiah 65:1-2 ESV. Notice carefully here why the Lord is calling them rebellious, in v2, as we read they
“walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices”
Following their own ways and devices, as opposed to God’s ways… isn’t that what we see all over the place today? Even within God’s people, ignoring the Lord’s commandments and ways? Thinking they know better? Thinking they can choose which of God’s laws and ways are relevant for our modern world? That seems pretty arrogant, right? As we have looked at, many churches don’t even teach about following God’s commandments, focusing instead of what the people want to hear about, such as love and grace. And we have to take some tough lessons from the past, from the Israelites as discussed through Isaiah. What happened to those who were arrogant, following their own ways? As we read a bit later in the chapter, ““But you who forsake the Lord, who forget my holy mountain, who set a table for Fortune and fill cups of mixed wine for Destiny, I will destine you to the sword, and all of you shall bow down to the slaughter, because, when I called, you did not answer; when I spoke, you did not listen, but you did what was evil in my eyes and chose what I did not delight in.”” Isaiah 65:12 ESV. Scary, right? Remember, the Lord wasn’t talking to “gentiles”; He was taking to His own people here.
The Lord tells us the same thing today, as He did to the Israelites 1000s of years ago, “Here I am”. He is not far away; and He desires to be called upon. To be sought after. If we paraphrase the first verse a bit, for our own consumption, the Lord tells us “I’m right here! I am ready to be called upon, to give you advice, to answer your questions. Seek Me and My ways.” We can come to Him as children, seeking Him. As we read from the book of wisdom, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.” Proverbs 3:5 ESV. Much needed today.
