Growing with God: A daily devotional with Tonia Slimm.
Isaiah 47:10 (NIV)
“You have trusted in your wickedness and have said, ‘No one sees me.’ Your wisdom and knowledge mislead you when you say to yourself, ‘I am, and there is none besides me.’”
Isaiah 47:10 (MSG)
“You were so confident and comfortable in your evil life, saying, ‘No one sees me.’ You thought you knew so much, had everything figured out. What delusion! Smugly telling yourself, ‘I’m Number One. There’s nobody but me.’”
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“For you [Babylon] have trusted and felt confident in your wickedness; you have said, ‘No one sees me.’ Your wisdom and your knowledge have led you astray, and you have said in your heart (mind), ‘I am, and there is no one besides me.’” -AMPLIFIED
“Babylon felt secure in mistreating people because her great learning and wisdom in the magical arts had led her to conclude that she was superior and invulnerable. Knowledge puffs up, and one of the delusions it spawns is that people who know more are as morally and ethically responsible as everyone else, since they are not. A corollary is that if I can get away with something, it’s all right. Such thinking forgets that there is a sovereign and righteous God in heaven to whom we are responsible.” ~Thomas Constable
Yesterday’s passage addressed Babylon’s sin of being lovers of pleasure.
“So now, listen to this, you pampered lover of pleasure, who sits smug and secure and says in her heart,
‘I am, and there is no one like me! I will never have to live as a widow or suffer the loss of my children.’
Suddenly both of these losses will overtake you in one day, for you will lose your husband and your children. Despite your many magic spells and your powerful sorceries,
you will be overwhelmed by these tragedies in full measure!” -Isaiah 47:8-9 (The Passion Translation)
Babylon’s sole goal in life was to gratify the flesh, in any and every way possible. We find in today’s passage, God accusing Babylon of trusting in and having confidence in her wickedness. She has perverted what God had intended for her.
Perverted: “a diverting from the true intent or purpose; a change to something worse; a turning or applying to a wrong end or use.” ~GotQuestions.org
“In your wickedness you thought you were immune, so hidden away that no one could find your faults. But your version of wisdom and knowledge were your undoing; you thought, “No one exists in the world of any consequence except me.”” -(VOICE)
God denounces Babylon for being smug, and feeling secure in her wickedness. He knew she was thinking that no one could see what she was doing secretly. He knew how confident she felt in her so-called knowledge and wisdom.
In her pride and arrogance, Babylon thinks that she can do whatever she desires, and no one can stop her, including God. She was trusting in herself, and she thought she was untouchable, indestructible, invincible. She will soon find out that she was wrong.
In the King James Version, we find God telling Babylon that her trust in her wickedness and wisdom has perverted her.
“For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me.” -(KJV)
And so it had, sin perverts us, it changes us from what God intends for us to be, and not in a good way.
“You felt secure in all your wickedness. “No one sees me,” you said. Your “wisdom” and “knowledge” have caused you to turn away from me and claim that you yourself are Jehovah.” -(TLB)
“You have trusted in your wickedness: This is a searching insight into the heart of the proud sinner. They trust in their continuing wickedness to cover the tracks of their previous sin. They are clever, but their wisdom in wickedness has warped them (Your wisdom and your knowledge have warped you).” ~David Guzik
Isaiah has warned in the past about trying to hide things from God, and being perverted.
“Wo [to] those going deep from Jehovah to hide counsel, And whose works have been in darkness. And they say, `Who is seeing us? And who is knowing us?’ Your perversion! as clay is the potter esteemed? That the work saith of its maker, `He hath not made me?’ And the framed thing said of its framer, `He did not understand?'” -Isaiah 29:15-16 (Young’s Literal Translation)
The unidentified author of Psalm 10 gives us the prime example of a fool, the wicked who thinks God cannot see their sin, or He will not notice. He writes:
“The wicked thinks in his heart, “God has forgotten us!
He has covered His face and will never notice!” -Psalm 10:11 (VOICE)
Jude warns Christians to be on their guard against those who were coming into the Church, tryig to pervert
“Friends, I have been trying to write you about our common salvation. But these days my heart is troubled, and I am compelled to write to you and encourage you to continue struggling for the faith that was entrusted to the saints once and for all. Vile men have slithered in among us. Depraved souls who stand condemned have made a mockery of the grace given to us, using it as a pretext for a life of excess, lived without any thought of God. These poor fools have denied Jesus the Anointed, our one Lord and Master.” -Jude 3-4 (VOICE)
Let us learn this lesson that Solomon tried to teach his son:
If you respect the Eternal, you will grow to despise evil.
I despise wretched, vile talk and ways of pride and arrogance.” -Proverbs 8:13 (VOICE)
“Wickedness, the opposite of righteousness. You thought: No one discerns me” ~Avraham Gileadi
My friend, sin perverts within us what God has intended for us. Beware! Remember, the wages of sin is death. Do not foolishly think that God cannot see what you do in secret, for He see all things, there is nothing hidden from Him. Respect God, and despise evil.
“There is no worse screen to block out the Spirit than confidence in our own intelligence.” ~John Calvin
My Prayer:
Adonai–Tzva’ot, God Almighty, humbly I ask for your forgiveness for all of those times I have intentionally been perverted and sinned against you and against others. That was wrong of me. I do not want to play the fool. I realize that nothing is hidden from you. And I do not want to live “thinking” that I am hiding things from you. I want my life to be a beacon of light, so that others can see you in me and praise you for what you have done in and through me. Help me, Lord, I need you.
Growing with God 