I.
With this week’s reflections we begin hearing a number of Scriptures with the overarching theme of “New Creation.”

However, these words from Isaiah seem far from sounding a note about “new creation.” Does it strike you that way?

This week we begin with “You felt secure … “ and end with “… there is not one to save you.”

What does Isaiah speak to between those two statements?

II.
Isaiah 47:10-15 (New Revised Standard Version)

You felt secure in your wickedness;
you said, “No one sees me.”
Your wisdom and your knowledge
led you astray,
and you said in your heart,
“I am, and there is no one besides me.”

But evil shall come upon you,
which you cannot charm away;
disaster shall fall upon you,
which you will not be able to ward off;
and ruin shall come on you suddenly,
of which you know nothing.

Stand fast in your enchantments
and your many sorceries,
with which you have labored from your youth;
perhaps you may be able to succeed,
perhaps you may inspire terror.

You are wearied with your many consultations;
let those who study the heavens
stand up and save you,
those who gaze at the stars,
and at each new moon predict
what shall befall you.

See, they are like stubble,
the fire consumes them;
they cannot deliver themselves
from the power of the flame.
No coal for warming oneself is this,
no fire to sit before!

Such to you are those with whom you have labored,
who have trafficked with you from your youth;
they all wander about in their own paths;
there is no one to save you.

III.
Isaiah calls his hearers attention to “… those with whom you have labored…“

How does he describe those people?

Where have they taken the people Isaiah is speaking to?

Does he paint a picture of a people needing a “new creation”?

How near to such a “creation” are they?

charles
{ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est}