Isaiah 30:6-14: a reflection

6The burden of the animals of the South. Through the land of trouble and anguish, of the lioness and the lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they carry their riches on the shoulders of young donkeys, and their treasures on the humps of camels, to an unprofitable people. 7For Egypt helps in vain, and to no purpose; therefore I have called her Rahab who sits still. 8Now go, write it before them on a tablet, and inscribe it in a book, that it may be for the time to come forever and ever. 9For it is a rebellious people, lying children, children who will not hear the LORD’s law; 10who tell the seers, “Don’t see!” and the prophets, “Don’t prophesy to us right things. Tell us pleasant things. Prophesy deceits. 11Get out of the way. Turn away from the path. Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.” 12Therefore the Holy One of Israel says, “Because you despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and rely on it, 13therefore this iniquity shall be to you like a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking comes suddenly in an instant. 14He will break it as a potter’s vessel is broken, breaking it in pieces without sparing, so that there won’t be found among the broken pieces a piece good enough to take fire from the hearth, or to dip up water out of the cistern.”

As the prophet rebukes a rebellious people, he exposes a telling thing about them: they did not want to hear the truth, but only what was pleasant. They tell the seers, Don't see, the prophet reports, and the prophets, Don't prophesy to us right things. Tell us pleasant things. Prophesy deceits. They did not want the truth from God's messengers; they wanted flattery, comfortable illusions, pleasant words, even deceits, so long as they were pleasant. The desire to hear only what pleases us, and to turn away from hard truth we need, is a real and dangerous thing. These people preferred comforting lies to uncomfortable truth, and told the prophets to stop telling them right things. To want only pleasant words, to refuse the hard truth we need to hear, is to prefer flattery to reality, comfort to correction. The desire to hear only what pleases us can lead us to reject the very truth that would help us. Wanting pleasant words over true ones is a dangerous preference.

Notice what these people wanted: pleasant things, not right things. They did not want the truth; they wanted flattery, comfortable words, even deceits, so long as they were pleasant. They told the prophets to stop telling them the truth and to tell them what they wanted to hear. This exposes a real danger of the human heart: to prefer comfortable lies to uncomfortable truth, to want only pleasant words and turn away from the hard truth we need. We can seek out only what flatters and comforts us, avoiding the truth that would correct or challenge us, surrounding ourselves with pleasant words and turning from those who tell us right things. But the truth we need to hear is not always pleasant, and to prefer flattery to reality is to reject what would actually help us. To want only pleasant words is to shut out the truth that corrects and saves. The hard truth we need is often not the pleasant word we want; and to demand only pleasant words is a dangerous thing. Wanting only what pleases us can leave us in comforting error.

That is worth taking to heart, for the desire to hear only pleasant things, rather than the truth we need, is a real and dangerous preference. We can want to hear only what flatters and comforts us, turning away from the hard truth we need, as these people told the prophets to prophesy pleasant things and not right ones; but to prefer comfortable lies to uncomfortable truth is to reject what would actually help us. The truth we need is not always pleasant, and to demand only pleasant words is to shut out correction. Do not seek only pleasant words that flatter and comfort you; be willing to hear the hard truth you need, rather than turning away from it as these people did. Be willing to hear the hard truth you need rather than seeking only pleasant words that flatter and comfort you, as the rebellious people told the prophets not to prophesy right things but to tell them pleasant things; for the desire to hear only what pleases us, and to turn away from uncomfortable truth, is a dangerous preference that leaves us in comforting error, and the truth we most need to hear is often not the pleasant word we want but the hard one that corrects and helps us, so that to shut out true words in favor of pleasant ones is to reject what would actually save us.

Lord, as the prophet rebukes a rebellious people, he exposes a telling thing about them: they did not want to hear the truth, but only what was pleasant. They tell the seers, Don't see, the prophet reports, and the prophets, Don't prophesy to us right things. Tell us pleasant things. Prophesy deceits. They did not want the truth from your messengers; they wanted flattery, comfortable illusions, pleasant words, even deceits, so long as they were pleasant. The desire to hear only what pleases us, and to turn away from hard truth we need, is a real and dangerous thing. Show me what these people wanted: pleasant things, not right things. They did not want the truth; they wanted flattery, comfortable words, even deceits. They told the prophets to stop telling them the truth and to tell them what they wanted to hear. This exposes a real danger of the human heart: to prefer comfortable lies to uncomfortable truth. I can seek out only what flatters and comforts me, avoiding the truth that would correct or challenge me, turning from those who tell me right things. But the truth I need is not always pleasant, and to prefer flattery to reality is to reject what would actually help me. Take that to my heart, for the desire to hear only pleasant things, rather than the truth I need, is a real and dangerous preference. I can want to hear only what flatters and comforts me, turning away from the hard truth I need; but to prefer comfortable lies to uncomfortable truth is to reject what would help me. Keep me from seeking only pleasant words that flatter and comfort me; help me be willing to hear the hard truth I need, Lord, rather than turning away from it as these people did, for the truth I most need is often not the pleasant word I want but the hard one that corrects and helps me.