Gleanings in Isaiah #1: Woe to those who are unjust - Isaiah 10:1-4

This morning I was meditating on Isaiah 10 which begins with these words:

Woe to those who make unjust laws,
to those who issue oppressive decrees,

to deprive the poor of their rights
and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people,
making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless.

What will you do on the day of reckoning,
when disaster comes from afar?
To whom will you run for help?
Where will you leave your riches?

Nothing will remain but to cringe among the captives
or fall among the slain.
Yet for all this, his [the LORD's] anger is not turned away,
his hand is still upraised.

Isaiah 10:1-4 TNIV

These words are a powerful statement of God's concern for justice in society. We must not overlook the fact that one of the primary sins for which God judges and send Israel and Judah into exile is their unjust and oppressive treatment of the weak and vulnerable in society, namely, the poor, windows, and orphans.

The words of James 1:27 echo the heart of this and many other Old Testament texts that speak about God's concern of weak and vulnerable:

"Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their misfortune and to keep oneself unstained by the world." NET

Christians must increasingly develop an awareness of (a) who are the weak and vulnerable are in their society (widows, orphans, the poor, immigrants, the unborn, the elderly, the marginalized, minorities, etc.), (b) where and how these people are being oppressed or treated unjustly, and (c) what they, as Christians, can do to stand with and for these people.

Justice for the weak and vulnerable is heavy on the heart of God, and we must face the truth that if we desire to love and follow him, we must engage those things which are heavy on his heart.