Each has wandered in his own way.

Isaiah 47:8-15, “Now, then, hear this, you sensual one, who dwells securely, who says in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one besides me. I shall not sit as a widow, nor shall I know loss of children.’ But these two things shall come on you suddenly in one day: loss of children and widowhood. They shall come on you in full measure in spite of your many sorceries, in spite of the great power of your spells. And you felt secure in your wickedness and said, ‘No one sees me,’ your wisdom and your knowledge, they have deluded you; for you have said in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one besides me.’ But evil will come on you which you will not know how to charm away; and disaster will fall on you for which you cannot atone, and destruction about which you do not know will come on you suddenly. Stand fast now in your spells and in your many sorceries with which you have labored from your youth; perhaps you will be able to profit, perhaps you may cause trembling. You are wearied with your many counsels; let now the astrologers, those who prophesy by the stars, those who predict by the new moons, stand up and save you from what will come upon you. Behold, they have become like stubble, fire burns them; they cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame; there will be no coal to warm by, nor a fire to sit before! So have those become to you with whom you have labored, who have trafficked with you from your youth; each has wandered in his own way. There is none to save you.”

When you cut loose from absolute, objective, ontological truth, you imagine yourself to be the ultimate authority. In the book of Judges, after Joshua and Moses, we find over and over “each one did what was right in his own eyes.” In our own time, we hear people say that if it’s true for you then it must be good. “If it feels good, do it.” Feelings do not work well as an ultimate source of truth, and there are dire and deadly consequences, some of them with an eternal weight. The prophet’s warning should give pause today as well as in his own time: “There is none to save you.”

Thank You that You offer salvation to us in a time when You may be found, when You are not very far from every one of us, Lord!