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22 And
they shall look [nabat] unto the earth; ['erets]
and behold trouble [tsarah] and darkness, [chashekah] dimness [ma`uwph] of
anguish; [tsowq] and they shall be driven [nadach] to darkness. ['aphelah] KJV-Interlinear
22 Then
they will look to the earth, and behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of
anguish; and they will be driven away into darkness. NASB
In the previous verses, people who look not to God and truth, but look to their own ideas, to their own agendas, to their own philosophies, to their own desires, to their own pretenses, whatever they are, sooner or later utterly fail in their efforts.
They seek to impress people, to gain popularity or notoriety if even in their own mind, all the while never seeing their own dismal failure forming right before their own eyes.
They get frustrated, anxious, anger and so forth. And then they look for someone to blame.
They blame people, and they blame God. Neither of which had anything to do with their choices.
When you are hurting, and blame God, what should you really expect?
And getting no satisfaction or answer or relief, these people, who lack truth in themselves, because they have ignored it probably for the most part of their lives, so they turn right back to the earth. And this is a phrase that relates to the world and the worlds ideas, which got them into trouble in the first place.
And then Isaiah unleashes a list of descriptions, trouble, dimness, anguish, and the final descriptive word is, driven.
And the word for driven is the real key to the life of the spiritually negative person. Driven to darkness, 'nadach aphelah,' really means, a darkness that is driven.
And so, anyone who is indifferent toward God or truth, drives themself deeper and deeper into the darkness of the unrealistic life they have chosen.
Whether is of some poor soul that chooses a philosophy to follow in life, or a poor soul that pretends they are something that they are not, or someone who is simply stubborn in their ways, it all comes down to their refusal to turn their life and their attention and their attitude, into a humble and selfless attitude toward changing their inner views of life and conforming to those things that God expects.
The Bible is clear as to what the spiritual life is, as to what God expects, and just how easy it is to utilize in ones life. But people ignore those things with a passion and seek to make their lives more difficult with all of their efforts to think smarter than God.
What effort is there in salvation? Believe in Christ. That is a mere thought.
What effort is there in confession? 'Father I did this and that and this and that.' That is simply acknowledging and listing your errors.
What effort is there in listening to or reading scripture that is being taught? You just listen or read.
What effort is there in learning? You can learn by default merely by the repetition of the last sentence.
How much effort is there in figuring it all out? God the Holy Spirit, makes all truth clear and perspicuous.
What really do you have to do, in order to have a successful spiritual life and therefore a successful life? Almost nothing, but listen and learn.
And by default when you learn something, you begin using it in your daily life. And using doctrine in your daily life becomes your spiritual production, which is the building and completion process of your own self.
Or, you could ignore all of this as nonsense and go right back to your own better ideas, which will get you where?
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