Have you ever thought, \u201cI can\u2019t believe my life has ended up here?\u201d That thought could be positive or negative. On the positive side, maybe you\u2019ve been married for a number of years and you looked at your spouse and thought to yourself, \u201cI can\u2019t believe I got someone as good as her!\u201d Or on the negative side, perhaps you have a large amount of debt and you thought, \u201cI can\u2019t believe this is the financial situation I\u2019m in.\u201d<\/p>\n
I\u2019d like to think about the negative side of that question. How do we end up in difficult situations that we just can\u2019t believe we got ourselves into? Another way to ask the question might sound like, \u201cHow did my life get to be this bad?\u201d<\/p>\n
If you\u2019ve ever asked a question like that, you\u2019re not alone. That\u2019s a question that many people are asking at different points in their life. But there\u2019s good news because God clearly shows us in His Word how we end up in situations that cause us to ask that question, and he also shows us how to change so we don\u2019t continually find ourselves asking that question.<\/p>\n
There are many places in Scripture that can help us answer this question, but there is a passage in Isaiah 30 that has a powerful illustration that really helps us understand how we end up asking, \u201cHow did I get here?\u201d<\/p>\n
12 Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, \u201cBecause you despise this word and trust in oppression and perverseness and rely on them, 13 therefore this iniquity shall be to you like a breach in a high wall, bulging out and about to collapse, whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant; 14 and its breaking is like that of a potter\u2019s vessel that is smashed so ruthlessly that among its fragments not a shard is found with which to take fire from the hearth, or to dip up water out of the cistern.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Isaiah was called to share the Lord\u2019s Word to a people that wouldn\u2019t listen. Although Isaiah spoke the very words of God and the truth to the people, they still wouldn\u2019t listen to him. Instead, as it says in v.12, they \u201cdespise[d] this word and trust[ed] in perverseness.\u201d<\/em> \u00a0That in and of itself isn\u2019t good. But notice how Isaiah illustrates the consequences of despising God\u2019s Word in vv.13\u201314. He says, \u201cthis iniquity shall be to you like a breach in a high wall, bulging out and about to collapse\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n
Since I moved to the more rural, agricultural part of Lafayette a few years ago, I\u2019ve noticed a number of barns that are dilapidated and on the verge of collapse. Their walls are often leaning so much that it looks like it would barely take much of a push to knock it over. And yet, many continue to remain standing for quite a while. Isaiah, is telling the people that their life is like one of those dilapidated, leaning barns.<\/p>\n
The next phrase that Isaiah says is important. He says that the collapse and the \u201cbreaking comes suddenly, in an instant.\u201d<\/em> This is that moment in life when we ask, \u201cHow did things go this wrong? How did I end up here?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n
That\u2019s a really good question to ask, but far too often we answer that question incorrectly. Very rarely do we recognize that when our marriage collapses, or when we\u2019re in financial ruin or in addiction that our iniquity in our life has made our lives like a teetering, leaning, dilapidated barn. Our life was still standing, just like a leaning barn. But one day it falls. It goes from standing to completely collapsed in an instant. It isn\u2019t collapsing one board at a time. Instead, the whole thing goes at once.<\/p>\n
Here are a couple of crucial truths to learn from this passage:<\/p>\n
1. Just because your life hasn\u2019t collapsed doesn\u2019t mean that everything is fine.<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Now, I know that isn\u2019t the most encouraging point, but it\u2019s crucial to understand. I had a conversation with someone recently who I had been trying to help over the past few months, but they hadn\u2019t been very interested in receiving my help. Then just recently, they became very urgent about needing my help – so urgent about needing my help that they said if I couldn\u2019t help this instant that I didn\u2019t care about them dying.<\/p>\n
What happened? Life hadn\u2019t collapsed yet. I could see it coming. His parents could see it coming. His family could see it coming. But because things hadn\u2019t collapsed yet, he judged that things were okay. And sadly, he judged the seriousness of his life’s situation inaccurately.<\/p>\n
2. This passage puts the blame on me for my life collapsing. <\/strong><\/h2>\n
Consider the man who essentially was blaming me for his death if I didn\u2019t help him at the instant he needed it. Who was he willing to blame for his life being collapsed and for not caring? Me. I asked him to consider the fact that I had been seeking to offer him help for the past few months and he didn\u2019t want my help. Unfortunately, he didn\u2019t humble himself and recognize that his iniquity had led him to this point. Rather, he was looking to pass the blame elsewhere. \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n
How About You?<\/u><\/h4>\n
It\u2019s not just this one man that struggles with evaluating his life incorrectly and blame shifting. That\u2019s something that all of us struggle with. \u00a0But here\u2019s my advice, which is coming right from this passage in Isaiah\u2026heed the warning! Do not shift the blame and do not assume everything is fine simply because your life hasn\u2019t collapsed. Do not “despise the word<\/em>” (v.12) as the Israelites did.<\/p>\n
Take time to ask yourself these evaluation questions:<\/p>\n
\n
- Are you intentionally prioritizing how you are using your time or are your circumstances dictating your time?<\/li>\n
- Are you actively pursuing Christ through memorizing and studying Scripture daily?<\/li>\n
- Do you have a vibrant prayer life or do you not see the need to pray much?<\/li>\n
- Is there sin in your life that you are simply living with rather than actively seeking to put off?<\/li>\n
- What are the most important relationships in your life, and what ways are you actively making them a priority?<\/li>\n
- What area of your life are you seeking to grow in right now and what are you doing to accomplish growth?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
If you take the time to honestly answer those questions, you’ll be able to answer whether or not your life is in a position of teetering or in a place of strength and growth. I pray that this illustration that Isaiah gives us will help keep you from finding yourself asking the question, \u201cHow did my life get here?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"