Say What??

Click here to read Isaiah 23

You might be wondering, what in the world does the above picture and Isaiah 23 have to do with each other?  It all starts with the first verse, "Wail, you ships of Tarshish."  Tarshish was the place Jonah fled to instead of going to Nineveh.  God had told Jonah to bring God's word to the people of Nineveh, which was just to the north of where Jonah lived.  But Jonah loathed...I mean loathed....the people of Nineveh.  And so, Jonah hopped on the first ship head west...not exactly the opposite direction...but certainly not the right direction either.  The ship Jonah found himself on was heading to Tarshish.

Usually, when I think about Jonah, I think about fleeing from where God is calling me, going in a different direction.  But there is also something about humans that loves, to use the cliche, "think the grass is greener on the other side."  Tarshish is the other side.  It is that job in the paper that would be so much better than the one you have now.  It is the other car you see the moment you have signed the paperwork and drive off the lot.  It is the all the "should'ves"  and "could'ves" that are part of our daily conversations.

Of course, the rest of the passage in Isaiah is not very uplifting.  It ends with some saucy language about prostitution.  I invite you to keep Isaiah's words in tension with the ministry of Jesus, who reached out to the lost, lonely, grieving and the prostitutes in his day.

Part of Isaiah's honesty is the age old human tendency to speak ill or woes to those around us.  We do this because we feel threatened.  A person in the Sunday morning Bible study commented that often Israel felt like a bone caught between two dogs.  Israel has always been threatened from those in all directions who want to take it over to gain an geographical edge against others.  When you are in the midst of fear or uncertainty or living in constant tension, our words are not always happy.

I invite you today to think about a situation or a relationship where your words did not "turn the other check"
Did your words sound like Isaiah 23?  I know at times mine have.  And while I might not have said, "Wail, you ships of _____ (fill in blank of a person's name),"  I do recognize the sentiment.

May the traces of God's grace sustain us and open us honestly to our words for better and worse.

Blessings and peace