Isaiah 42:17-25: a reflection

17“Those who trust in engraved images, who tell molten images, ‘You are our gods,’ will be turned back. They will be utterly disappointed. 18“Hear, you deaf, and look, you blind, that you may see. 19Who is blind, but my servant? Or who is as deaf as my messenger whom I send? Who is as blind as he who is at peace, and as blind as the LORD’s servant? 20You see many things, but don’t observe. His ears are open, but he doesn’t listen. 21It pleased the LORD, for his righteousness’ sake, to magnify the law and make it honorable. 22But this is a robbed and plundered people. All of them are snared in holes, and they are hidden in prisons. They have become captives, and no one delivers, and a plunder, and no one says, ‘Restore them!’ 23Who is there among you who will give ear to this? Who will listen and hear for the time to come? 24Who gave Jacob as plunder, and Israel to the robbers? Didn’t the LORD, he against whom we have sinned? For they would not walk in his ways, and they disobeyed his law. 25Therefore he poured the fierceness of his anger on him, and the strength of battle. It set him on fire all around, but he didn’t know. It burned him, but he didn’t take it to heart.”

In a sobering word to a people who had suffered for their sin, Isaiah names a dangerous condition: they saw and heard, yet did not perceive. You see many things, but don't observe. His ears are open, but he doesn't listen. And even when calamity came upon them, they did not take it to heart: It burned him, but he didn't take it to heart. They had experienced the consequences of their sin, felt the burning, yet did not let it teach them, did not take it to heart, did not turn. The correction came, but they would not receive it; the fire burned, but they did not learn from it.

Notice the danger named: experiencing the consequences yet not taking them to heart. They had seen, heard, and even suffered; the correction was upon them, burning them. But they did not perceive, did not listen, did not take it to heart. The hardship that should have turned them taught them nothing, because they would not receive it, would not let it reach their hearts. It is possible to undergo correction, to feel its burning, and yet learn nothing from it, because we do not take it to heart. The consequences came, but they passed over hearts that would not be taught.

That is worth taking to heart, for we too can experience hardship or correction and yet not take it to heart, learning nothing. Hard things happen to us, consequences of our own choices, corrections meant to turn us; and we can undergo them, feel their burning, yet not take them to heart, not let them teach us, and so pass through them unchanged, as those who were burned but did not take it to heart. Correction we do not receive teaches us nothing. Do not undergo hardship or correction without taking it to heart; let the hard things you experience teach you, rather than passing through them unchanged, as those who were burned but learned nothing. Take to heart the hardships and corrections you experience, letting them teach you and turn you, rather than passing through them unchanged, as Isaiah's people were burned but did not take it to heart; for correction we do not receive teaches us nothing, and it is possible to feel the fire and learn nothing unless we take it to heart.

Lord, in a sobering word to a people who had suffered for their sin, Isaiah names a dangerous condition: they saw and heard, yet did not perceive. You see many things, but don't observe; his ears are open, but he doesn't listen. And even when calamity came upon them, they did not take it to heart: it burned him, but he didn't take it to heart. They had experienced the consequences of their sin, felt the burning, yet did not let it teach them, did not turn. Show me the danger named: experiencing the consequences yet not taking them to heart. They had seen, heard, and even suffered; the correction was upon them, burning them. But they did not perceive, did not listen, did not take it to heart. The hardship that should have turned them taught them nothing, because they would not receive it. It is possible to undergo correction, to feel its burning, and yet learn nothing from it. Take that to my heart, for I too can experience hardship or correction and yet not take it to heart, learning nothing. Hard things happen to me, consequences of my own choices, corrections meant to turn me; and I can undergo them, feel their burning, yet not take them to heart, and so pass through them unchanged. Correction I do not receive teaches me nothing. Keep me from undergoing hardship or correction without taking it to heart; let the hard things I experience teach me, Lord, rather than passing through them unchanged. Help me take to heart the hardships and corrections I experience, letting them teach me and turn me.