Kindling

Thus says the LORD: Woe to Assyria! My rod in anger, my staff in wrath. Against an impious nation I send him, and against a people under my wrath.  I order him to seize plunder, carry off loot, and tread them down like the mud of the streets. But this is not what he intends, nor does he have this in mind. Rather, it is in his heart to destroy, to make an end of nations not a few. 

For he says: “By my own power I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I am shrewd. I have moved the boundaries of peoples, their treasures I have pillaged, and, like a giant, I have put down the enthroned. My hand has seized like a nest the riches of nations.  As one takes eggs left alone, so I took in all the earth. No one fluttered a wing, or opened a mouth, or chirped!” 

Will the axe boast against him who hews with it? Will the saw exalt itself above him who wields it? As if a rod could sway him who lifts it, or a staff him who is not wood! Therefore the Lord, the LORD of hosts, will send among his fat ones leanness. And instead of his glory there will be kindling like the kindling of fire. (Isaiah 10:5-7, 13-16)

Isaiah is blunt.  He believed Assyria was sent by the LORD to punish Israel because it was impious.  It lacked reverence and proper respect for the LORD.  But that backfired because the Assyrians went way beyond what the LORD expected.  They destroyed many nations.  They “tread them down like mud of the streets.”  So, the LORD became angry and exclaimed “Woe to Assyria” and decided to make them kindling for the fire, all according to Isaiah.

How many of us seek to unmercifully punish those who have hurt us?  Do we wish them ground into the dirt – buried in mud?  Such behavior leads to tit-for-tat behavior, escalation, and revenge – retaliation.

Much is happening in today’s world that cries out for retaliation.  We all must resist; otherwise, our fates will be kindling.   Matches cause tremendous out-of-control fires.  Before we strike our matches, we should listen to Isaiah.

Deacon David Pierce