Isaiah
24:11
11 There is a crying [tsavachah] for wine [yayin] in the
streets [chuwts]; all joy [simchah] is darkened [`arab], the
mirth [masows] of the land ['erets] is gone [galah]. KJV-Interlinear
11 There is an outcry in the streets for
lack of wine; all joy has grown dark; the gladness of the earth is banished. ESV
Isaiah’s
description of the final days of history, continues. When people live in prosperous times, they
often times do not see the advantage that those prosperous times give them for
the purpose of growing in their spiritual lives.
It is far better
and easier, to study and learn and grow up spiritually when life is at its
easiest.
Unfortunately,
too many, become unsatisfied with their prosperity or luxuries, and become
greedy and selfish in life, and indifferent toward the one person who makes it
all possible, namely Christ.
And so when the
chips fall and life gets tougher, then there are two possible responses or
reactions.
The first is the
obvious, or should be the obvious, and that is to turn to God, to repent and
begin the tougher task under the duress's of life for growing up in ones spiritual
life.
But the second
is the more common reaction to hardship.
And, that is to complain, to become bitter, to whine about the loss of
earthly things, which by the way are all temporary and unfulfilling, rather
than to focus on the things of God, which are permanent.
And to demonstrate
the unreasonableness of this reaction and the high degree that stubbornness can
rise to even more, remember that in those fateful final days of history, the
worlds population is dying off in droves, as the world itself is literally
falling apart with all sorts of natural disasters.
But what is on
the mind of people? Their wine. Their pleasures. The absolute inconvenience in their lives,
that this end of the world situation is having on them!
