Isaiah 59:12-16

¹² For our crimes before you are many, and our sins testify against us. Our transgressions indeed are with us, and we know our iniquities: ¹³ transgressing, and denying Yahveh, and turning ourselves away from following our God, talking extortion and revolt, conceiving lying words and proclaiming them from the heart. ¹⁴ Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands at a distance; for truth stumbles in the open plaza, and honesty cannot enter. ¹⁵ Truth is missing, and whoever turns from evil is plundered. Yahveh saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice. ¹⁶ He saw that there was no one, and was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm brought him victory, and his righteousness backed him up.

beltless

Paul’s “armour of God” in Ephesians 6 reflects the wording of this chapter of Isaiah. Isaiah pictured the whole nation without this essential item. When I was in the army, I learned how important it was to have a harness around me, giving me a place to hang all the essential items I might need in combat. This L.B.E. (load bearing equipment) was necessary for my survival, because everything else literally was hanging on it. So it is with truth as a believer.

Isaiah was pointing to the fact that his people had become as corrupt as the nations around him. When God looked for honesty and truth, he found no one, so he had to be honest with himself. His own righteousness had to back him up. May this not be the case today. May the Lord’s church wrap itself with integrity and honesty. It is essential for spiritual warfare, and life as a Christian.

LORD, forgive us for our dishonest living in the past. Make us a people belted with integrity.