"In transgressing and lying against the Lord, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.
And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.
Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment.
And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him.
For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak.
According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompence to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompence.
So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.
And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord."
Isaiah 59:13-20
Right before this selection it says "our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them" (verse 12) ... so I surmise that this is a list of some of our problems, as a world, before the coming of Christ. Right after this selection it says "As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord" (verse 21), which seems like God promising all of us that he sees and knows the evil out there (that we made), and that he is going to solve it.
This selection makes it clear that Christ is coming to save us from injustice and untruth... and I think that as more and more of these things are starkly true, as truth and equity fail, God's coming will be seen as needed and necessary... the destruction inextricably paired with the deliverance. A promise of power when there is no one to help the people in need and the ones who are trying to do the right.
Today, let's remember the word of the Lord, and even when it seems like "truth is fallen in the street" and that we are making ourselves prey for departing from evil... let's trust in him, repent, do good, love others, and keep doing the right things even when it is unpopular and causes us problems. God asks us to shine his light to the world, and he will stand up for us and fight the battles that we cannot, and clean up the mess that we made that we don't have the power to remove ourselves. Individually for now, but someday all of it. That is his promise to us, and he will unfailingly fulfil it.
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