Seventh Day Baptist
Christian Education Council
PO BOX 1678
Janesville, WI 53547
Rise up, you women who are at ease, hear my voice;
you complacent daughters, give ear to my speech.
In little more than a year
you will shudder, you complacent women;
for the grape harvest fails,
the fruit harvest will not come.
Tremble, you women who are at ease,
shudder, you complacent ones;
strip, and make yourselves bare,
and tie sackcloth around your waist.
Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields,
for the fruitful vine,
for the soil of my people
growing up in thorns and briers,
yes, for all the joyous houses
in the exultant city.
For the palace is forsaken,
the populous city deserted;
the hill and the watchtower
will become dens forever,
a joy of wild donkeys,
a pasture of flocks;
until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high,
and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field,
and the fruitful field is deemed a forest.
Then justice will dwell in the wilderness,
and righteousness abide in the fruitful field.
And the effect of righteousness will be peace,
and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever.
My people will abide in a peaceful habitation,
in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.
And it will hail when the forest falls down,
and the city will be utterly laid low.
Happy are you who sow beside all waters,
who let the feet of the ox and the donkey range free.
(ESV)
—Isaiah 32:9-20
by: Lisa Moore.
God never minces words, regardless of position or gender. The women in this passage were lazy, apathetic, careless, and indulgent in selfish whims. He called their behavior out and called them to repentance before judgment was passed on all the people and the land. God cannot ignore sin. He is a God of justice and sin’s penalty must be paid. Thankfully, He is also a God of mercy. After the penalty of sin is paid for (which in our case was through Jesus’ death), there is always restoration when His Spirit is poured out and all that became barren becomes fruitful once again. Thank you, Lord.
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