Biting the Hand of Him Who Feeds Us

“Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken.  I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against Me.  The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.”  Isaiah 1:2-3

Isaiah prophesied during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.  Uzziah and his son Jotham were characterized as doing right in God’s eyes.  However, Jotham’s son, Ahaz, was an idolatrous king who sacrificed his own children in the fire.  His son, Hezekiah, was not like him, but was a righteous king.  Even the kings who were seen as righteous were certainly not perfect, thus the need for a prophet to warn the people against idolatry and disobedience.

Isaiah was very sorrowful over the state of his fellow Israelites and called upon the heavens and the earth to hear the words of the LORD as He spoke of the ingratitude and indifference of the people of Israel.  I suppose Isaiah trusted the heavens and the earth more than Israel to give a listening ear to what God had to say to them.  As is usually the case, folks who think they know it all are less likely to listen to others even though they might be greatly helped by what they hear.  But that’s the way that pride works.  God had taken care of His people, given them everything they needed, protected them from their enemies, yet they rebelled.  Any parent should be able to understand how it feels to rear a child the best they can and then watch as the child rebels against them and their principles.

Even an ox knows his owner and serves him without a hint of rebellion.  The donkey doesn’t bite the hand that feeds him.  But people–that’s another story.  It is not hard to understand the fact that man is born in sin.  It is the nature of man to sin and rebel against authority.  Those who know Christ, though, have a new nature.  The capacity to rebel is still there but can be overcome by depending on the Holy Spirit to reign in the heart and mind of man.

God said that Israel didn’t know nor consider.  They just didn’t care that they turned their backs on God.  Matthew Henry wrote, “…men revolt from God and rebel against Him because they do not know and consider their obligations to God, in duty, gratitude, and interest”.  Those in Israel who rebelled had moved so far away from the straight and narrow that their evil deeds were passed down to their children.  The whole nation was corrupt.  They sinned and enticed others to sin.  America is just as guilty.  The rebellious people were backsliders.  We don’t hear that term very much today, but a backslider is someone who professed to be a child of God, lived for Him, and then went back to his or her old sinful ways.  These backsliders were well aware of what would anger God, but they proceeded to rebel anyway.  I think the problem in America today is not that folks are backsliders, but rather they never even had a desire to live for and honor God, at least that’s the way that they live.

Another term which is not used much anymore is the term “sin sick”.  To be overcome by sin does make us sick, sometimes physically, but all of the time spiritually.  The opposite of “sick” is “well”.  It is “well with my soul” when my sins are forgiven, and I am walking with the Lord.  Sin is like a cancer that spreads if it is not cut out and destroyed.  It has to be dealt with if any healing is to take place.  Sin affects everything that it touches, and it touches a lot more than people think.  Folks say, “I’m hurting no one but myself”.  Wrong.    How many homes have been broken up because of alcoholism or drug addiction by one member of the family?  The treatment for injuries and diseases caused by sinful living makes everyone’s health insurance premiums higher.  Refusing to work, support oneself, and receiving government benefits cost folks who do work higher taxes.  Sin is not isolated.

Isaiah described sinful Israel as a desolate country, with cities that are burned, and overthrown by strangers.  He described the land as a cottage in a vineyard, or a lodge in a garden of cucumbers which would become dilapidated with no one to care for them.  Could America become like this?  We have already seen cities burned by rebellious people, and we could eventually be overtaken by one of our enemies.  As bad as these descriptions leave us with seemingly no hope, we must remember that God always has a remnant of people who love and obey Him.  Matthew Henry wrote, “This remnant is often a very small one in comparison with the vast numbers of revolting ruined sinners.  Multitude is no mark of the true church.  Christ’s is a little flock”.  Without the sovereign God preserving a few godly people, the world likely would have already been destroyed like Sodom and Gomorrah.  “It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed because His compassions fail not.  They are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23).