Pulling the Plug On the Gifted

 Isa 3:1 For behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, Takes away from Jerusalem and from Judah The stock and the store, The whole supply of bread and the whole supply of water; 2 The mighty man and the man of war, The judge and the prophet, And the diviner and the elder; 3 The captain of fifty and the honorable man, The counselor and the skillful artisan, And the expert enchanter.

As we continue looking at the judgement of God against his rebel children, we see that He not only takes away the supply of bread and water, but also competent men in every arena of vocation. Military men, (mighty man and man of war) civil servants, (judges)  preachers, (prophets) godly seers (diviners such as Daniel) the wisdom of the elderly, gifted supervisors, (captains of fifty) honorable men on every level, counselors, artisans, and eloquent orators (enchanters)  

 

God is certainly able to crimp the hose of gifts and abilities that He has poured out on men in the church and in the world. He can confound or remove bright minds from every walk of life and in every nation. Or as in this case, He can simply have them all carted off to another nation. This prophecy was literally fulfilled in the Babylon captivity and we read about it in 2Ki 24:14 “Also he carried into captivity all Jerusalem: all the captains and all the mighty men of valor, ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths. None remained except the poorest people of the land.”

 

Sometimes as I hear our leaders speak, and look at some of the court decisions in our land, I have to wonder if we are not experiencing the same kind of judgment that Jerusalem and Judah experienced!

 

Well, no matter, the point of all this, is that God is able to perform such an act as a way to carry out His judgment against a land. Knowing this, should we not be quick to turn to Him with godly sorrow over our sins, and receive the forgiveness offered through faith in His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ?

 

Imagine a nation stripped of such gifted men? Would that be a place where you would want to live and hand over to your children. I think not!