Tag-Archive for » Isaiah 47:10 «

El Árbol de la Decisión

Saturday, July 17th, 2010 | Author: Skip Moen

Porque te confiaste en tu maldad, diciendo: Nadie me ve. Tu sabiduría y tu misma ciencia te engañaron, y dijiste en tu corazón: Yo, y nadie más. Isaías 47:10

Engañarte: En el estilo hebreo característico, el verbo usado aquí para “engañar” es el mismo verbo que podría ofrecer esperanza a un idólatra ciego. Ése verbo es shuv. En este verso shovevatach realmente significa “alejar”. Pero shuv es usado cientos de veces para referirse a volver a Dios. El clamor dominante de la Escritura es “Vuélvanse a Mí”. Es el ruego de Dios de que nos volvamos hacia su gracia y bondad. Pero el hombre que cree que está escondido de Dios es el hombre que se aleja. No es que pierda la bondad de Dios por ignorancia, sino por idolatría. Es en su infidelidad que el desea esconderse.

¿Se dio cuenta que este hombre cayó a causa de su sabiduría y su conocimiento? La frase es aliterativa (hohmatech veda’atech hi shovevatech) “Tu sabiduría y tu misma Ciencia [conocimiento*] te guiaron” ¿Qué tipo de sabiduría y conocimiento guía a un hombre lejos del Señor? Ciertamente no las que provienen de Él. El tipo de sabiduría y conocimiento que guían lejos de Dios deben ser la sabiduría errada y el conocimiento rebelde asociado con los falsos dioses. Esta sabiduría y este conocimiento son una parodia de lo real. Se muestran como “revelación” y entendimiento, pero son de hecho engaño y destrucción, y guían a la muerte y no a la vida.

La idolatría es el pecado fundamental en la Biblia. No, no se trata de arrodillarse ante pequeñas estatuas de madera o de ofrecer sacrificios ante sus caras pétreas. La idolatría es infidelidad a la demanda de Dios en nuestras vidas.  En otras palabras, es un acto moral, no un error de conocimiento. Yo cometo el pecado de idolatría no cuando erradamente adoro a un dios falso (error mental) sino cuando deliberadamente desdeño mi compromiso de fidelidad con Aquel que me ama y me creó. Dios ubica una demanda de propiedad sobre mí. Este es el impacto del primer mandamiento. Yo pertenezco a Dios. Es mi ansia/lujuria por otro tipo de vida, por otra oferta de aparente libertad la que me hace abandonar la relación de pacto que juré mantener con Él. Esta es la razón por la cual la idolatría es descrita en términos de infidelidad sexual. Es adulterio espiritual.

¿Cuál es la falsa sabiduría y el conocimiento rebelde que me aleja de mi Rey? Es el atractivo de la serpiente. “Determina por ti mismo lo que es malo y lo que es bueno para ti” La Idolatría se trata de decidir yo mismo lo que es bueno para mí. Sólo Dios puede determinar lo que es realmente bueno. Cuando yo entro en esta ecuación moral, introduzco mi propio deseo a la par con el deseo de mi Rey y Maestro. Mi conocimiento de lo bueno y lo malo es precisamente eso, mi conocimiento. Como tal niega, mi voto de fidelidad de vivir por Su determinación de lo bueno. Es un pecado sexual espiritual.

La única pregunta que necesitamos hacernos cuando nos enfrentamos a la idolatría es esta: ¿Quién decide?

Índide Tópico: idolatría, shuv, alejarte, vuelve a mí, Isaiah 47:10

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Decision Tree

Saturday, July 17th, 2010 | Author: Skip Moen

For you trusted in your wickedness; you said, “No one sees me.”  Your wisdom and your knowledge, it leads you away, and you said in your heart, “I am and none else is.” Isaiah 47:10

Leads You Away – In characteristic Hebrew style, the verb used here for “leading away” is the same verb that could offer hope to the blind idolater.  That verb is shuv.  In this verse, shovevatach really means “turning away.”  But shuv is used hundreds of times for turning back to God.  The paramount cry of the Scripture is “Return to Me.”  It is God’s plea for us to come back to His grace and lovingkindness.  But the man who believes he is hidden from God is the man who turns away.  He does not miss God’s goodness because of ignorance.  He misses it because of idolatry.  It is his unfaithfulness that he wishes to hide.

Did you notice that this man falls because of his wisdom and his knowledge?  The phrase is alliterative (hohmatech veda’atech hi shovevatech) – “your wisdom and your knowledge they lead you.”  What kind of wisdom and knowledge leads a man away from the Lord?  Certainly it cannot be God’s wisdom or God’s knowledge.  The kind of wisdom and knowledge that lead away from God must be the mistaken wisdom and rebellious knowledge associated with false gods.  This wisdom and knowledge is a parody of the real thing.  It appears as insight and understanding, but it is in fact deception and destruction.  It leads to death, not life.

Idolatry is the fundamental sin of the Bible.  No, it’s not bowing down to little wooden statues or offering sacrifices before stone faces.  Idolatry is unfaithfulness to God’s claim on our lives.  In other words, it is a moral act, not a cognitive error.  I commit the sin of idolatry not when I mistakenly worship a false god (a mental error), but when I deliberately remove my commitment of fidelity to the One who loves me and made me.  God places a claim of ownership on me.  This is the impact of the first commandment.  I belong to Him.  It is my lust for another way of life, for another offer of apparent liberty that permits me to leave the covenant relationship I have sworn with Him.  This is why idolatry is described in terms of sexual infidelity.  It is spiritual adultery.

What is the false wisdom and the rebellious knowledge that leads me away from my King?  It is the appeal of the serpent.  “Just determine for yourself what is good for you and what is bad for you.”  Idolatry is me deciding what is good for me.  God alone can determine what is good.  When I enter into the moral equation, I introduce my own desires on par with the desires of my King and Master.  My knowledge of good and evil is precisely that, my knowledge.  As such, it denies my oath of fidelity to live by His determination of the good.  It is spiritual sexual sin.

The only question we need to ask of ourselves when it comes to idolatry is this:  Who decides?

Topical Index:  idolatry, shuv, leads you away, return to me, Isaiah 47:10

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Sight Unseen

Friday, July 16th, 2010 | Author: Skip Moen

For you trusted in your wickedness; you said, “No one sees me.”  Your wisdom and your knowledge, it leads you away, and you said in your heart, “I am and none else is.” Isaiah 47:10

Wickedness – How could anyone trust in wickedness?  Does that make any sense at all?  No one actually puts their faith in evil, do they?  Yes, there are folklore stories about making a pact with the devil, but for the most part we all know that these are fictitious.  So what can Isaiah mean?  The explanation is found in the elaboration.  To trust in ra’a’ (evil) is to say to yourself, “No one sees me.”  In other words, it is the presumption that I will not get caught.  To trust in wickedness is to assume that unobserved behavior avoids moral consequences. It doesn’t mean that I don’t acknowledge the behavior is evil.  It just means that I don’t think I will have to pay any consequences for doing it.

Why is this assumption about life so foolish?  It is foolish because it denies the sovereignty of God.  He always sees.  The man who thinks that getting away with it is the man thinks he is his own god.  Such a man is not only guilty of the moral infraction of his behavior, he is also guilty of idolatry.  He has put himself in God’s place.  He is a sinner twice over with a single act.

Of course, none of us is like this foolish man, are we?  We never take action that depends on secrecy in order to avoid consequences.  We never avoid the light in order to accomplish a deed.  We never calculate the probabilities of being caught before we move ahead.  No, all of our actions are able to stand in the light, justified because they are aligned with the character of the King.  We would be mortified to even imagine that any deed of ours needed to be hidden in an effort to avoid its natural consequences.  Of course. Of course.

But sometimes we aren’t quite so righteous, are we?  Sometimes we do seek a little excuse, we do create a bit of darkness, sometimes we do scheme how not to get caught.  What we don’t realize is that no matter how small the moral infraction, each of these acts is idolatry.  Each action asserts that God is not Judge of all Mankind, that He is not sovereign and supreme and that His law is not written into the fabric of the universe.

When I volunteered in the jail, I worked with young men who routinely asserted that their only crime was being caught.  They believed their actions were entirely justifiable.  These men had no remorse, only regret that they weren’t smart enough to avoid arrest.  Next time would be different.  I often wondered if I were any different, with the one exception that I didn’t get caught.  I was certainly capable of doing what they had done.  Did I avoid those actions because of the fear of being caught or because I wished only to follow the King?  Isaiah raises the age-old question of faith:  Who do you trust?  The idolater trusts himself.  He has no other god.  The problem is that his god is blind.  My God isn’t!

Topical Index:  trust, wickedness, ra’a’, idolatry, Isaiah 47:10

Category: Today's Word  | Tags: , , , ,  | 42 Comments