Contemplative Bible Reading

Isaiah 33:7-8 (New English Translation)

7 Look, ambassadors cry out in the streets;

messengers sent to make peace weep bitterly.

8 Highways are empty,

there are no travelers.

Treaties are broken,

witnesses are despised,

human life is treated with disrespect.

The prophet Isaiah is lamenting the condition of life among his people. He starts with the officials in government who are trying to make peace (the ambassadors and the messengers). Isaiah turns to the awful state of regular life (travelers). Then Isaiah looks at the legal system, the part of society that  brings justice. Treaties – justice among nations – are broken. Witnesses – those who recount events – are despised.

Isaiah summarizes the state of affairs with the most basic of elements:

human life is treated with disrespect

I write sadly that it is easy to find cases of this in my community – the wealthy neighborhoods of Northern Virginia outside of Washington D.C. I guess I have found this in the half-dozen places I have lived in America. And then there are the half-dozen foreign countries where I have worked in my life.

Disrespect for persons and their lives is not centered in any one place on earth. It seems to be a part of the human condition. I guess that is in our fallen nature.

God, thank you for sending your Son to redeem us from our fallen nature. Help me to live as a truly restored person who respects human life in all places at all times.