Daily Devotional – May 4, 2020

Good afternoon. How are you doing on this lovely Monday, a new week upon us, first full week of May? And how are you doing with this mask thing? Well, here's my latest iteration. Actually, to be honest, it's my wife's.

It's Chris's. She came up with this one. And I liked it so well, I decided to steal it from her this morning. I probably shouldn't do it without probably, you know, maybe laundering it again or something like that.

I don't know. Anyway, it's so nostalgic, don't you think? Reminds me of being, oh, seven or eight years old and playing cowboys and Indians with all the kids in the neighborhood. Yeah, I know that's not politically correct these days, is it?

But fortunately, we weren't so touchy back in those days. If we were, then I never would have had this really cool mask. Never would have learned how to do it. And, you know, actually having glasses helps you out with this sort of thing because you can tie the knot and then hook it to the frame of your glasses.

The problem is it's harder to keep up. So you'll have to pardon me. I'm going to take the thing off. And I hope you have good antivirus software on your computer in case I happen to spread the virus through the Internet to your computer.

Masks, Public Health, and the Limits of Human Solutions

Well, speaking of mandatory masking, we were at a grocery store recently that demanded that all the employees wear masks. So I'm standing near the checkout or I'm standing near the entrance, the entrance and exit.

They only had one. They normally have two entrances and two exits. And I found this to be rather interesting, too, that they normally have two ways to get in and out. You know, one, I guess, was one door would be the entrance and another door would be the exit.

Well, they had the normal entrance closed and everybody had to go in and out the same door. I'm not quite sure what the rationale of that is, because then, of course, you're, you know, you're passing more people that way.

But anyhow, so I'm standing there near the exit. Just I'm waiting. Had to wait for a few minutes. And it's also right near where the the carts are. And they got a whole bunch of them stacked up. And then they've got some that are pulled out that are sanitized and ready to go for the next customers that come in.

So I'm waiting there for about five minutes. And I just watched. And there were these two employees, cart girls. And one of the cart girls, she she wheeled in a bunch of carts and stuck them with the rest of the carts that had to be sanitized.

Well, then she pulled down her mask to guzzle a bottle of water. So she goes pulling her mask down, guzzles a bunch of water. And after she guzzles her bottle of water, she has to go back to work. But her work this time took her over to bagging groceries.

So after pulling down her mask, she goes over to one of the one of the checkouts and she starts bagging groceries. And she's putting putting some. And the whole time on her way over to the checkout, she's putting her mask up and she's trying to get it situated just right on her face.

And she gets over there. She puts a few things in the bag and her mask isn't fitting right. So she's playing around with it some more and goes back to putting the the groceries in the bag. And and the whole time, the whole time this is I'm not kidding.

The whole time the mask is like this under her nose. I'm like, OK, that's got to be doing a world of good. So she gets done bagging that person's that customer's groceries and heads back over to the cart area where by this time cart girl number two is wheeling in a bunch of grocery carts.

And cart girl number one, she just says, you know, she she pulls her mask down and she says, man, I hate these things. It's so hot. It's so I can I can hardly breathe. And the other girl, she says, yeah, I know.

I know. And she pulled her mask down. And then girl one got a tissue and wiped the chin of girl two. And they, you know, continue blabbering back and forth, complaining about the masks and so forth. And then both of them, they pushed a couple of the sanitized carts over in an area where the customers could easily grab them when they came in.

And then cart girl number one, she went back to bagging groceries, putting her mask up, of course, under her nose. And cart girl number two went back out into the parking lot to round up more carts. I I seriously couldn't help but just stand there and and chuckle at the whole thing.

The Deeper Problem Is Truth and Sin

Well, this all reminded me of a lot of the conflict and end up causing more harm than good. And by the way, they they don't even stop the COVID -19 virus molecule. It's too small. It goes right through what most people would wear.

Well, I'm sure you know this quite well, that this is really just one of the many issues that is causing division and it's raising blood pressure and irritation level in our nation today. And both sides of any of these issues claim to have the truth about what will save us or not.

Save us from this most deadly of viruses or this bug that's really no deadlier than the seasonal flu. Now, my purpose here this afternoon is not to debate any of these things. I'm not interested in getting into any to getting into any debate.

But but I do want to suggest that there's a deeper problem and it's not new. In fact, the problem is really an ancient problem. It's a problem that has to do with the truth, the truth. In the 8th century BC, so 800 years before Christ, in the 8th century, 700 years before Christ, Isaiah the prophet spoke to his nation in words that really should be echoed in our generation in this 20th, 21st century.

What are we looking for in this COVID -19 pandemic? Salvation, right? But where are we looking? Masks, masks will save us. Ventilators will save us. Vaccines will save us. Fauci will save us. Birx will save us.

The CDC, the World Health Organization. God, who's going to save us from this? I want you to listen to the timeless announcement that Isaiah made at the beginning of Isaiah 59. He said this. Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save, nor his ear dull that it cannot hear.

But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that, now listen to this, he does not hear. Now that in itself is pretty sobering, isn't it?

God can hear. God can save. But Isaiah proclaims to his people, 2 ,800 years ago, 2 ,700 years ago now, he proclaims, itemize what some of those sins are. Now see if you recognize any of these, okay? He says, for your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity.

Your lips have spoken lies. Your tongue mutters wickedness. No one enters a suit justly. No one goes to law honestly. They rely on empty pleas. They speak lies. They conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity.

Their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed innocent blood. You realize, according to the World Health Organization, this is not from some ultra right-wing, pro-life, anti-abortion group, okay?

This is from the World Health Organization. According to the World Health Organization, there are more than 3 ,000 abortions every day in the United States. Twenty-two percent, more than one-fifth of all pregnancies in this country end in an elective abortion with feet that are swift to shed innocent blood, with hands that are defiled with blood.

Do you realize how many that is? That means this year already, if the average carries over into this year, there have already been 373 ,500 babies killed. Now, that is five and a half times the total number of COVID deaths to this point.

Your hands are defiled with blood. And then, how about this? Your lips have spoken lies. Your tongue mutters wickedness. No one goes to law justly. According to a survey that was conducted by Forbes, you know what the least trusted professions in the United States are?

At the very bottom, members of Congress. Almost at the bottom, journalists. And right above them, business executives and then lawyers. Isn't that sad? Why is this? Why is this? It's because we know that we have been lied to over and over and over again.

We're lied to for political agenda. We're lied to for financial gain. We're lied to for power and control. And one of the most challenging things that we have to do in our culture, in our day, is to be able to sift through information and discern what is the truth.

The truth. And then, the way of peace they do not know. Do I need to elaborate on this? We don't know the way of peace politically. We don't know the way of peace personally. We don't know the way of peace interpersonally.

We don't know the way of peace internationally. The way of peace they do not know. Now, this is a sad list of items. And what the Lord is telling the people in Isaiah's generation, and I think it's echoed in our generation, is that these are the kinds of things that keep the Lord from bringing that salvation.

Hope in the Light of Salvation

But I don't want to leave this all on a dark, dark note. There are some serious consequences to this list of items, this sorry state of affairs, and we're going to look at some of those consequences tomorrow.

But I don't want to leave all of this on a dark note. We're going to work our way through Isaiah 59 in the next couple of days, where eventually the light comes out, the light shines, the light of salvation.

It does actually shine. But where, see, where does that light come from? Where is that salvation? That's what we want to discover. That's what we want to work to. So let me encourage you to stay with me these next couple of days, and let's get out of this darkness and let's look to the light.

So, Heavenly Father, I pray that this afternoon you would encourage us with your word. We are truly challenged and disturbed by even these things that we have looked at and read this morning. And yet we also realize that it's not the end of the story, that when things are the darkest, the light can shine.

So, Father, I pray, encourage us with your word. And this we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. All right. Well, again, have a great, great rest of your Monday and hope your week, your whole week is just one of joy and contentment.

In the serving and living for your Lord. Have a good day.