Speak Unto Us Smooth Things

Those words, taken from the prophet Isaiah, were spoken about a rebellious and wayward people. They were spoken by the Lord to his own chosen people, a people who yet again had rejected Him and his messengers in favor of the counsel of men.

So rebellious were they that they had turned to Egypt for protection and strength. Think about that for a moment. God’s people, who were once enslaved by Egypt for over 400 years, have now some 700 years later returned to their former captors asking for their protection. Does this not stagger the mind? Read along with me as God speaks to His children about what they have become:

8  Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever: 
9  That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD: 
10  Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits: 
11  Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.  Isaiah 30:8-11

Clearly, the people have made their choice. They no longer desire God in their lives, neither do they want His messengers to speak about a Holy God because they know they are unholy themselves. To do so would bring about conviction, and that is the last thing the backslider wants to have happen.

People who reject God also reject Truth, therefore they say to God’s messengers “don’t give us truth, give us lies, give us smooth things that are easy to deal with. We’ve got enough to contend with without having to hear a sermon about sin or living a holy lifestyle. Besides, we want to live our lives unencumbered by rules and commandments”.

Now, I realize of course that this rebuke from the Lord to His chosen people happened over 2700 years ago. Yes, we can argue that things were different back then, that even people were different back then. A lot has changed in customs and manners over these many centuries.

Yet, I would challenge anyone who would say that people today are any different in their attitudes towards the Lord than Israel and Judah were then, to examine the numbers. The cold fact is that most of the people alive today simply do not want to hear from, or even about, the God of the Bible. When only about 31% of the world’s population are Christ followers, it would be hard to refute that statement.

The sad truth is, even those who are in that number that claim Christ as their Lord and Savior do not appear to have much of a hunger for God and His word today. As a way of confirming this, try this little test. Ask yourself; does my pastor only speak “smooth things” to the congregation? Do we only hear messages intended to make us feel better about ourselves rather than convict us of any sin in our lives?

When was the last time your pastor preached something that made you squirm in your seat? If it’s been a while, that ought to tell you a great deal about the level of ‘truth tolerance’ in your church. The apostle Paul dealt with this very issue in his 2nd letter to the Corinthians.

In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.  2nd Corinthians 4:4

This blindness that Paul speaks of is the language of Satanic deception that has engulfed our world today. If you will only receive ‘smooth things’ from other people, or if you will only hear what you believe to be true, then you will be just like those Paul spoke to at Corinth. The god of this world, Satan, will blind you so that you cannot see the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I see a pattern here, a pattern of rebellion and disobedience among the people of God whether they be Israel of old or Christians of today. These traits come from people who only want to be affirmed, to have their sinful lifestyle validated by others who have swallowed the bait of Satan just as they have.

So, why does any of this matter? Why should you even care? It matters because we are living in what Paul described as “perilous times” (2nd Timothy 3:1). These are the days of evil and deception where men have given themselves over to every vile imagination as they reject the counsel of God. These are days in which mankind has snubbed its collective nose at the Almighty, saying “speak unto us smooth things” instead of truth.

Man today has failed to learn from the failures of previous generations who rejected God and His word as their standard for living. Rather than seeking Godly truth, by their own actions men are saying “tell us what we want to hear, and tell us in such a way that it makes us feel good as we swallow the poison”.

Indeed, we are entering into the time Jesus described as “the beginning of sorrows”(Matthew 24:8). What comes next is spelled out clearly in God’s word, and we can rest assured that “smooth things” is not on His agenda.

I encourage everyone to seek the Lord as though your life depended upon it.

Because it does…

Have a blessed day,

Ron