READ: Is. 42:18-25: Hear, you deaf; and look, you blind, that you may see … Seeing many things, but you do not observe; Opening the ears, but he does not hear. The LORD is well pleased for His righteousness’ sake; He will exalt the law and make it honorable. But this is a people robbed and plundered; all of them are snared in holes, and they are hidden in prison houses … Who among you will give ear to this? Who will listen and hear for the time to come? Who gave Jacob for plunder, and Israel to the robbers? Was it not the LORD, He against whom we have sinned? For they would not walk in His ways, nor were they obedient to His law. Therefore, He has poured on him the fury of His anger and the strength of battle; It has set him on fire all around, yet he did not know …
After the LORD announced the miraculous deliverance of His people, which is accomplished solely by Him, He now focuses on the condition of His people, their self-awareness, and their relationship with Him.
He had also given them a mission to testify of His greatness. While He made them great and prosperous (v.21), they paid little or no attention to Him as their Covenant God who had given them all these blessings.
They did not realize that all good things came from Him. Nor did they listen to His words from His law or the warnings of His prophets, but they continued to go their own way. Incomprehensible, since the LORD was so near to His people and had given them everything.
But then God’s punishment came, culminating in exile. They were plundered, robbed, and imprisoned. They did not realize that this was the work of the LORD as punishment for their sins, even though God’s covenant wrath had been clearly announced from the moment they heard Him at Sinai. They followed their own ways and persisted in them.
Even in exile, they did not see that He had poured out His fierce wrath upon them. The people remained deaf and blind … and yet, God seeks out His people again. Their deliverance is purely undeserved grace from the LORD.
Do we see God’s hand in the events of the world today?
Sing: Ps. 60:1,4