Wickedness

Where does wickedness come from?

For wickedness burned like a fire, consuming briers and thorns; it kindled the thickets of the forest, and they swirled upward in a column of smoke. Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts the land was burned, and the people became like fuel for the fire; no one spared another. They gorged on the right, but still were hungry, and they devoured on the left, but were not satisfied; they devoured the flesh of their own kindred; Manasseh devoured Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh, and together they were against Judah. For all this his anger has not turned away; his hand is stretched out still. Ah, you who make iniquitous decrees, who write oppressive statutes, to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be your spoil, and that you may make the orphans your prey! What will you do on the day of punishment, in the calamity that will come from far away? To whom will you flee for help, and where will you leave your wealth, so as not to crouch among the prisoners or fall among the slain? For all this his anger has not turned away; his hand is stretched out still. - Isaiah 9:18-10:4

Isaiah warns that wickedness can be all consuming, like a forest fire out of control.

Is it wickedness that fuels our anger and pits us against one another, or does the anger rise up inside and take control, making us wicked?

Isaiah reminds us that God can get angry with us if we are wicked toward one another.  He will raise His hand and swipe it against us on the day of punishment, when we stand before Him to be judged.

We like to think that we are safe.  We aren't to be counted among the wicked, for we have done nothing to harm anyone, right?

But we can get caught up in the fray if we are not careful.  Our association with others or our indifference to their actions can lead us into the battle, making us collateral damage.

Wickedness abounds.  It is all around us, and it feeds on our silence, our apathy, our ignorance.

Unless we stand up to it, we can find ourselves consumed by it.

More to come...