Restoration as Humble Competence
The current National Security Advisor to the President of the United States, HR McMaster, knows something of the dangers of Isaiah 1:23 and the parallel restoration God offers three verses later. He doesn't use the biblical cadence, and neither does Patrick Radden Keefe profiling McMaster in this week's New Yorker, but the same tension pulls taunt both pages. McMaster knows what distorts the advice of counselors to the nation's highest leader. As an academic, McMaster warned in his book Dereliction of Duty of the pull to tell President Lyndon Johnson only what he wants to hear and of the dangers to a nation that can result. If rebellion and bribes tempt the princes of Isaiah 1:23 and wine addict and distract the nation's leaders in Isaiah 28:7 and Daniel 5:1-4, surely the lure of approval can be just as intoxicating.
Leaders from the days of Isaiah and Daniel, and including more recent examples the 1960s to the present are capable of overemphasizing what is important within their own sphere and losing sight of God's definition of a healthy culture which exalts Him and protects the most vulnerable people. Leery as I am to bring in a current example in this divided time, even McMaster shows that the Democratic administration he studied at the Republican administration in which he now serves have to grapple with distorted priorities.
As Isaiah 1:23 is still an accurate description of one aspect of God's judgment sending divided and distracted counselors, Isaiah 1:26 shows restoration can be just as specific. McMaster searches for this remedy, although any biblical awareness does not make its way into the New Yorker's lengthy profile. McMaster was already a two-star general when offered the chance to, one might nearly say orders to, to serve the president as national security advisor. Accomplished on his own, he looked for a model of calm evenhandedness upon which to pattern his execution of his new role. He found it in Brent Scowcroft, another two-star general who made the transition to serve as national security advisor as George H.W. Bush lead the nation through the end of the Cold War.
My point is not to make much of Democrats or Republicans, Presidents Johnson, or Trump, or any in between. I don't even want to brag about or excoriate key presidential advisers from Scowcroft to McMaster. My point is that God's goodness is still offered and active in Isaiah 1:26 terms. For Isaiah, God points back to leaders like Samuel who were imperfect but faithful in their own day, and guarantees He can disciple more. Where His judgment is expressed in fragmentation, angst, even military insecurity, so, on the other side of national repentance, His goodness can be expressed in steady hands at the national till chosen from available, far from perfect options. This verse gives me hope because God specifically doesn't sweep our every aspiration toward eschatology. He doesn't say, I won't give you a good leader until the government rests on the shoulders of My Son. He doesn't say, mankind, you gave up any wisp of inspiration in Eden. He points them back to the more recent past and insists He can show His faithfulness in similar ways.
Leaders from the days of Isaiah and Daniel, and including more recent examples the 1960s to the present are capable of overemphasizing what is important within their own sphere and losing sight of God's definition of a healthy culture which exalts Him and protects the most vulnerable people. Leery as I am to bring in a current example in this divided time, even McMaster shows that the Democratic administration he studied at the Republican administration in which he now serves have to grapple with distorted priorities.
As Isaiah 1:23 is still an accurate description of one aspect of God's judgment sending divided and distracted counselors, Isaiah 1:26 shows restoration can be just as specific. McMaster searches for this remedy, although any biblical awareness does not make its way into the New Yorker's lengthy profile. McMaster was already a two-star general when offered the chance to, one might nearly say orders to, to serve the president as national security advisor. Accomplished on his own, he looked for a model of calm evenhandedness upon which to pattern his execution of his new role. He found it in Brent Scowcroft, another two-star general who made the transition to serve as national security advisor as George H.W. Bush lead the nation through the end of the Cold War.
My point is not to make much of Democrats or Republicans, Presidents Johnson, or Trump, or any in between. I don't even want to brag about or excoriate key presidential advisers from Scowcroft to McMaster. My point is that God's goodness is still offered and active in Isaiah 1:26 terms. For Isaiah, God points back to leaders like Samuel who were imperfect but faithful in their own day, and guarantees He can disciple more. Where His judgment is expressed in fragmentation, angst, even military insecurity, so, on the other side of national repentance, His goodness can be expressed in steady hands at the national till chosen from available, far from perfect options. This verse gives me hope because God specifically doesn't sweep our every aspiration toward eschatology. He doesn't say, I won't give you a good leader until the government rests on the shoulders of My Son. He doesn't say, mankind, you gave up any wisp of inspiration in Eden. He points them back to the more recent past and insists He can show His faithfulness in similar ways.
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