Isaiah 8:22
22 And they shall look [nabat] unto the earth; ['erets]
and behold trouble [tsarah] and darkness, [chashekah] dimness [ma`uwph] of
anguish; [tsowq] and they shall be driven [nadach] to darkness. ['aphelah] KJV-Interlinear
22 Then
they will look to the earth, and behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of
anguish; and they will be driven away into darkness. NASB
In the previous verses, people
who look not to God and truth, but look to their own ideas, to their own
agendas, to their own philosophies, to their own desires, to their own
pretenses, whatever they are, sooner or later utterly fail in their efforts.
They seek to impress
people, to gain popularity or notoriety if even in their own mind, all the
while never seeing their own dismal failure forming right before their own
eyes.
They get frustrated,
anxious, anger and so forth. And then
they look for someone to blame.
They blame people, and
they blame God. Neither of which had anything
to do with their choices.
When you are hurting, and
blame God, what should you really expect?
And getting no
satisfaction or answer or relief, these people, who lack truth in themselves,
because they have ignored it probably for the most part of their lives, so they
turn right back to the earth. And this
is a phrase that relates to the world and the worlds ideas, which got them into
trouble in the first place.
And then Isaiah unleashes
a list of descriptions, trouble, dimness, anguish, and the final descriptive
word is, driven.
And the word for driven
is the real key to the life of the spiritually negative person. Driven to darkness, ‘nadach aphelah,’ really
means, a darkness that is driven.
And so, anyone who is
indifferent toward God or truth, drives themself deeper and deeper into the
darkness of the unrealistic life they have chosen.
Whether is of some poor
soul that chooses a philosophy to follow in life, or a poor soul that pretends
they are something that they are not, or someone who is simply stubborn in
their ways, it all comes down to their refusal to turn their life and their attention
and their attitude, into a humble and selfless attitude toward changing their
inner views of life and conforming to those things that God expects.
The Bible is clear as to
what the spiritual life is, as to what God expects, and just how easy it is to
utilize in ones life. But people ignore
those things with a passion and seek to make their lives more difficult with
all of their efforts to think smarter than God.
What effort is there in
salvation? Believe in Christ. That is a mere thought.
What effort is there in
confession? ‘Father I did this and that
and this and that.’ That is simply
acknowledging and listing your errors.
What effort is there in
listening to or reading scripture that is being taught? You just listen or read.
What effort is there in
learning? You can learn by default
merely by the repetition of the last sentence.
How much effort is there
in figuring it all out? God the Holy
Spirit, makes all truth clear and perspicuous.
What really do you have
to do, in order to have a successful spiritual life and therefore a successful
life? Almost nothing, but listen and
learn.
And by default when you learn
something, you begin using it in your daily life. And using doctrine in your daily life becomes
your spiritual production, which is the building and completion process of your
own self.
Or, you could ignore all
of this as nonsense and go right back to your own better ideas, which will get
you where?
