Faithful Frustration

07.03.13

Isaiah 6.11-12 11 Then I said, “How long, O Lord?”

And he said:

“Until cities lie waste

without inhabitant,

and houses without people,

and the land is a desolate waste,

12 and the Lord removes people far away,

and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.”

Isaiah’s ministry was to be a ministry of faithful frustration; he would prophecy and the people would ignore him.

How much is enough? That is a question a friend posed to me one day along with three others: 1. Who is God? 2. Who am I? 3. What really matters? How much is enough? How much profit does a business man have to make? How many and how long are wars? Who is really in charge here? How much is enough?

How long do you preach to an apathetic crowd? How many blogs does one write (in what seems like an endless ocean of blogs) to impart whatever it is one wants to impart? How much feedback does one need on said blogs?

Isaiah was told to preach, “Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is a desolate waste, and the Lord removes people far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.” How long do you preach when no one wants to listen?

I think God understands faithful frustration. I think He is the Original faithfully frustrated. He knows what men need and gives them the grace to figure it out for themselves and continually works in their lives to help them get it – and day after day after day He watches as men ignore Him and run headlong into death and destruction.

The nation of Judah was God’s special child and Judah became too secular for their own good. They became more impressed and political with the peoples around them and God’s servants watched as promise after promise was broken or fell upon deaf ears. They then, were like us today: no thought for the present and no thought for the future.

My heart goes out to the faithfully frustrated. It’s not like it’s not an important message – it’s huge – but people seem to be caught up in whatever else that distracts them from Who God is, who they are, what really matters, and how much is enough.

Father, Your love is higher than the heavens and Your faithfulness reaches to the skies. Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, and Your justice flows like the ocean’s tide. Help the faithfully frustrated to keep at it despite the overwhelming feelings that enough is enough, and what really matters no longer really matters. Strengthen the faithful to be faithful and to continue to preach to the crowd which doesn’t want to hear. Amen.