Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth! For the Lord has spoken: “I have nourished and brought up children, And they have rebelled against Me; The ox knows its owner And the donkey its master’s crib; But Israel does not know, My people do not consider.” Alas, sinful nation, A people laden with iniquity, A brood of evildoers, Children who are corrupters! They have forsaken the Lord, They have provoked to anger The Holy One of Israel, They have turned away backward. Why should you be stricken again? You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick, And the whole heart faints. (Isaiah 1:2-5 NKJV)
It is alarming how these words apply not only to these mighty United states of America but to the whole human race. It is because we as the totality of civilization created by God Himself have refused to follow His will for us all.
God spoke to the heavens and to the earth when He said, “I have nourished and brought up children, And they have rebelled against Me.” There is great irony in the fact that the lowly ox and the ass (donkey) know and do their master’s bidding. They are aware of Who it is that provides food, shelter and care for their very existence.
God, therefore, declared, “Israel does not know, my people do not understand” (Isaiah 1:3 ESV). It was a sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity. Notice that their iniquity was not just a worrisome infestation, it was a burden with which they were heavy laden. God called them the “offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly”! They forsook the Lord, despised the Holy one of Israel, and were utterly estranged. Pleading with them He asked, “Why will you still be struck down? Why will you continue to rebel?”
Ah, now we come to the reality as to why this happened. “The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.” When mankind decided that he knew better than God how man should direct his steps is when the head became sick, the mind twisted and the spirit of man became rebellious against the Creator of all mankind. Isaiah went on to say how man would become totally sick with putrefying sores from the sole of his feet to the crown of the head.
This nation and this world have infected men’s mind with the attitude that I want what I want, when I want it and I want it my way, right now, and you better just step aside for me! Attitude is a mental state that manifests itself in actions. Mankind in his rebellion to God has made himself sick of mind, faint of Heart and faltering in spirit. It is well past the time when we should have bowed ourselves low before God and asked for His mercy on us for our rebellion. We ought to plead for forgiveness.
