Isaiah 28:22 Now therefore be ye not mockers, lest your band be made strong: for I have heard from the Lord God of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth.
The Sooner We Learn, The Better We Live
Have you ever learned something the hard way? I think all of us have. When you talk about learning the hard way, you are talking about learning from experience. Someone says, “Well, experience is the best teacher.” That might be true if you can live through what you learn. For instance, I can learn the lesson of gravity best by implementing it. I can step off the roof of a building. That experience will teach me the power of gravity, but I might not survive the lesson. The truth is I would rather learn from your experience than from mine, and all of us can learn from the experience of history. God has given us the Bible from by which we can learn from the experience of others, including God’s people in Israel and Judah.
In Isaiah 28, we are reminded that God knows what it takes to produce fruit in us. God knows what it takes to teach us just like a farmer knows what it takes to produce fruit from a crop. Verse 29 says, “This also cometh forth from the LORD of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.”
Sometimes a farmer plows, sometimes he plants, and sometimes he grinds the grain, but in every case, he knows what it takes to produce fruit in that crop. The Bible tells us that farmers learn this from God. “For his God doeth instruct him,” verse 26 says. God instructs him in discretion. The farmer learns to discern when to plow and plant from a God Who likewise knows what it takes to teach us.
The lesson we should learn is that the sooner we learn the better we live. Verse 22 says, “Now therefore be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong.” These people were going into captivity, and the bands of slavery were getting stronger because they were proud, would not listen, were scornful, and they mocked the messenger of God, Isaiah.
Today may be later than you wish it were, but it is earlier than it will ever be again, so today is the day to learn our lesson. God can teach anyone who is teachable. Like a farmer, sometimes God’s work is gentle and nurturing. Like a farmer, sometimes God’s work is more drastic. In any event, God knows what it takes to teach us, and the sooner we learn, the better we will live.