Isaiah - Verse By Verse

Scripture:  Isaiah 5:21 (NIV):  "Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight."

Thought:  To me, proud conceit is behind much of our American culture.

Question:  Do I unconsciously suppress thoughts of excluding God from my decision-making?

Woe #5:  the arrogance of sin is that people truly believe they know more than God.  Though they might not consciously admit this, deep in their hearts this is what is going on.  If God knows best, we have no reason to strike out independently on our own.

Becoming "wise" in one's "own eyes" is the result of failing to remember, or meditate on the truth, that God is our Creator and we His creatures.  God is "at the top", supreme, omnipotent--not us!  When He is no longer worshipped in highest esteem, we will begin to worship self.  The result is an air of independence from God instead of a reasonable dependence upon Him. 

Such "cleverness" is really inspired by God's enemy, Satan.  Beware those who become puffed up with knowledge, who form their own theories in defiance of God, especially in the area of the origin of man, planet earth and the universe.  As our wonderful prophet, Isaiah, will state later on:  "Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker, to him who is but a potsherd among the potsherds on the ground.  Does the clay say to the potter, 'What are you making?' " (Isaiah 45:9)  And Paul, in I Corinthians 1:20 says, "Where is the wise man?  Where is the scholar?  Where is the philosopher of this age?  Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?"  And, once again in Isaiah, "...the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish...You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay!  Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, 'He did not make me'?  Can the pot say of the potter, 'He knows nothing'?" (Isaiah 29:14 and 16.)

Prayer:  Lord, humble me if I begin to become "wise in my own eyes"!  Keep me in the realization that You are all-powerful, all-knowing and eternally existant, and that I am but a mortal creature whose life fades "like grass."  Amen.   

• Main
• archives
• Albums
• Links
• Admin
• Send us a story!

• Isaiah - Day 159
• Isaiah - Day 158
• Isaiah - Day 157
• Isaiah - Day 156
• Isaiah - Day 155
• Isaiah - Day 154
• Isaiah - Day 153
• Isaiah - Day 152
• Isaiah - Day 151
• Isaiah - Day 150

• General [314]

• RSS 0.90
• RSS 1.0
• RSS 2.0
• Atom