Isaiah 22:1-4

¹ A valley of vision oracle: Why have you gone up, all of you, to the roofs, ² full of noises, chaotic city, jubilant town? Your slain did not die by sword, nor your dead from battle. ³ All of your rulers have run away together without a bow; all of your found ones were captured. They were captured together; they had run far away. ⁴ Therefore I said, “Look away from me, let me be bitter in the weeping; you must not quickly seek to comfort me for the destruction of the daughter of my people.”

the inevitable

The inhabitants of Jerusalem saw its destruction coming, and instead of repenting, they merely posited themselves for the new foreign dominion. They refused to mourn the devastation and loss of life. They had resigned themselves to what they considered inevitable. They did not even organize a battle to defend themselves. The rulers were captured while trying to escape their own deaths. They had given up any faith in God, and were merely trying to save their own skins. In a time of crisis, when their people needed them to show courage and leadership, they just gave up.

It is much too easy to take this approach when crisis hits our society, our family, or our church. But the LORD puts us in leadership for just such times. When it comes time to make a stand, we need to be there to do it.

LORD, forgive us for running away from problems in the past. Give us the courage to lead in the crises we face today.