The Land is Full

In Isaiah 2:7-8 Isaiah wrote about the wickedness in the last days, and it is such an accurate description of our current society.  He described our land as being “full” of three things, and the implication is that these three things all lead us away from the true worship of Jehovah. 

·         “Their land also is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures”—Certainly the quest for money that is so prevalent throughout the world is a major stumbling block to our spiritual well-being.  But more than that we’ve become a people obsessed with things.  Just look around and count the number of people who are holding tight to their iPhones as they walk around; it seems that a desire to possess the latest and most expensive “treasures”—cars and electronic gadgets and computers and clothing—has become one of our defining features.  Isaiah’s point I believe is that all of these things have caused us to forget Jehovah.      

·         “Their land is also full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots”—I believe what Isaiah was describing was the proliferation of means of transportation available today.  We are constantly a people in motion, whether that be through cars or airplanes or anything else.  But our exponentially increased ability to travel over the past century doesn’t seem to have increased our understanding of where we really should be going in life.  It reminds me a little exchange in The Little Prince between the prince and a railway switchman. As they watched the trains hurry by in both directions, the prince said, “What a hurry they are in.  What are they looking for?”  The switchman responded, “Not even the engineer on the locomotive knows.”  He later commented, “No one is ever satisfied where he is.”  Society’s focus on constantly moving leaves us little time to be still and commune with God.    

·         “Their land is also full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made.”  With our obsession of constantly putting famous actors and actresses, sports stars, wealthy businessmen, politicians, etc. on pedestals, it’s clear that we are no less guilty of worshiping idols than the ancient Israelites.  In addition to people, there are also all of those “treasures” mentioned above that many seemed to likewise turn into idols, and all of these have the potential of turning us away from worshiping Jehovah. 

Ultimately one of Isaiah’s main messages was that we need to worship God and no one else.  In our day the amazing advancements of society in riches and transportation and technology have unfortunately not brought us any closer to God.  As Saints in the last days we must learn to place our worship of God above all else that the world tries to entice us with.