What Happens When You Push God Too Far?

by The Howitzer

And they will pass through the land hard pressed and famished and it will turn out that when they are hungry they will be enraged and curse their kind and their God as they face upward- Isaiah

I am working my way through Isaiah and being challenged by the circumstances there. Judgment is fast approaching the nation of Israel and we get a back-stage pass as to what is going on in the mind of God as He unveils His judgment to His prophet Isaiah. Isaiah is a pre-exilic prophet, meaning that he prophesied before the nation was taken into exile. Unbeknownst to the Israel they will soon be carried away by two invading nations. First the Assyrians will dominate the northern kingdom and then the Babylonians will overcome the southern kingdom. The horrors that await them are overwhelming and they don’t know the half of it. The thing that challenges me is that God loves them as much as He loves me but they have pushed Him too far and they will reap an incredibly difficult set of consequences.

The thing that challenges me is that God loves them as much as He loves me but they have pushed Him too far and they will reap an incredibly difficult set of consequences.

The exile of Israel is a picture of the frailty of man. We think we are indestructible but we are but dust. We think we are in control but are just one phone call from our knees. We thing our will is strong but we are one betrayal away from depression. Sometimes I like to portray myself as not caring what people thing but the reality is that self-protection and self-preservation is the only mode that guards against the absurd behavior of people around me. As a modern prophet who sings on the country radio says, “God is great, beer is good and people are crazy”. Most people are only partly to be trusted. Including myself.

The passage above is a great example of that. Isaiah reveals the reality that as soon as people are hard pressed (in this case hungry) they will curse both God and king. Man is frail and there is nothing you can do about it. You can’t spin it. You can outthink it. You can’t out maneuver it. The bootstraps that we pull ourselves up by are too short. Our strength is weakness and tomorrow we die. We are completely and totally in need of assistance and I refer not to a burgeoning, intrusive, big brother governmental system. We need help from above. LET’S JUST HOPE WE HAVE NOT COMPLETY PISSED HIM OFF AND ARE DESTINED FOR EXILE. GOD HELP US!

Photo by Professor Pigg