“In that day, the Lord God of hosts called for weeping and mourning, for baldness and wearing sackcloth, and behold joy and gladness, killing oxen and slaughtering sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine. Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die.”
– Isaiah 22:12-13
Isaiah 22:12-13 contrast what God was calling for among his people in Jerusalem, and how they were responding in exactly the opposite way. They were living in sin, indulging in the pleasures of this world. Turning from God, running in rebellion against God. Eating, drinking what they thought was joy and gladness, killing oxen, slaughtering sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine. They’re doing all these things, living it up, indulging in all the stuff of this world.
Isaiah 22:12-13 Reminds Us Only God Can Satisfy Us
We’re surrounded by fleeting pleasures, but only God can fully satisfy and completely fulfill us.
Meanwhile God is saying, “I’m calling for weeping and mourning, for baldness and wearing sackcloth.” You don’t realize what you’re running after is empty. It’s lasting with pleasure for just a little while, but it won’t last for long. “Weep and mourn, turn back to me, I give you eternal treasure, eternal pleasure. You’re running from that for fleeting pleasures.” In these verses I am just reminded, I see a mirror of the temptation in my own life, in your life, we are surrounded right now, every day we’re surrounded with fleeting temporary pleasures. Things that promise us joy, satisfaction, if we’ll just do this. This person go to that person, get this possession, get this position then we’ll be happy.
Then we’ll be happy when we get this or this or this. When the reality is God is saying, “No, none of those things will satisfy you.” The danger is some of those things satisfy for a little while, and we think yes, joy, gladness, yes, I can eat and drink and indulge here, this is so good. Meanwhile God’s saying, “No, as long as you’re looking to the things of this world, and trusting in the things of this world to satisfy you, to fulfill you, then you might be satisfied, fulfilled for a minute, but it’s not going to last very long. Only God can fully satisfy us. Only God can completely fulfill us.
In Isaiah 22:12-13, he’s calling the people of Jerusalem to see this. In Isaiah 22:12-13 he’s calling us to see this.
This Verse Leads Us To Pray For The Right Perspective
Let’s pray. God, help us, give us right perspective. Give us spiritual eyes to see the emptiness, the futility of running after anything in this world for ultimately satisfaction. God, guard us from that we pray. In our lives help us to look to you alone as the source of pleasure and treasure that lasts forever. We pray, that you would bring us to repentance for anythings that we are seeking after in the world. Bring us to repentance for anything that is keeping us from trusting in you as our pleasure and our supreme treasure. And we pray that you would help us not to be blinded by temporary pleasures in this world, that we miss the eternal treasure you have designed for us. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
