Isaiah
29:21
21 That make a man ['adam] an offender [chata'] for a
word [dabar], and lay a snare [qowsh] for him that reproveth [yakach] in the gate [sha`ar], and
turn aside [natah] the just [tsaddiyq] for a thing of nought [tohuw]. KJV-Interlinear
21 who by a word make a man out
to be an offender, and lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate, and with
an empty plea turn aside him who is in the right. ESV
Without truth, the world is turned upside down. Right becomes wrong and wrong becomes
right. Tolerance becomes intolerance,
and common courtesy is transformed into superficiality and insensitivity. Small and insignificant things become
mountains and mountains are ignored as nothing.
Responsibilities and obligations are regarded as
non-essential, and compromise becomes common place.
That which was usually conducted in quiet and dark
places, become publically acceptable.
Life is turned upside down. Rules are turned upside down. Social standard are turned upside down. Relationships are turned upside down. Good is rejected and wickedness becomes the new
normal, common, and acceptable.
And so it goes.
Relationships no longer function within acceptable boundaries,
but become competitive or controlling or abusive. Traditional roles are rejected, even hated.
And it all begins with oneself.
If your thinking is off, then your relationship with
yourself is off. If your relationship
with yourself is off, then your relationship with others is off. And obviously if these things are off, then
your relationship with truth and God is off, and that is the ultimate problem
to begin with, which needs to be solved.
To turn someone away making them the bad person over a
simple word, is the description of a personal relationship problem.
To reprove at the gate is the display of a public problem.
To turn aside right, is the whole problem turned
upside down.
When God, Christ, doctrine, and the spiritual life are
skewed and off, then ones whole perspective is out of sync with reality, out of
sync with responsibility, out of sync with obligations, out of sync with truth.
And when all of this exists in ones life, then your
very core or self-esteem is flawed and dysfunctional, resulting in the
unleashing against others. And it
matters not if they are family, friends, or strangers.
