12 “Listen to Me, O Jacob, even Israel [f]whom I called;
I am He, I am the first, I am also the last.
13 “Surely My hand founded the earth,
And My right hand spread out the heavens;
When I call to them, they stand together.
14 “Assemble, all of you, and listen!
Who among them has declared these things?
The Lord loves him; he will carry out His good pleasure on Babylon,
And His arm will be against the Chaldeans.
15 “I, even I, have spoken; indeed I have called him,
I have brought him, and He will make his ways successful.
16 “Come near to Me, listen to this:
From the first I have not spoken in secret,
From the time it took place, I was there.
And now the Lord [g]God has sent Me, and His Spirit.”17 Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel,
“I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit,
Who leads you in the way you should go.
18 “If only you had paid attention to My commandments!
Then your [h]well-being would have been like a river,
And your righteousness like the waves of the sea.
19 “Your [i]descendants would have been like the sand,
And [j]your offspring like its grains;
Their name would never be cut off or destroyed from My presence.”20 Go forth from Babylon! Flee from the Chaldeans!
Declare with the sound of joyful shouting, proclaim this,
Send it out to the end of the earth;
Say, “The Lord has redeemed His servant Jacob.”
21 They did not thirst when He led them through the deserts.
He made the water flow out of the rock for them;
He split the rock and the water gushed forth.
22 “There is no peace for the wicked,” says the Lord.
In vv. 12-16, God repeatedly calls Israel to do one thing: to listen. He calls us to do the same, though most of us aren’t very good or practiced at that. Oh, we might even be good listeners, but how about listening for God? It isn’t easy, but it’s important, because He does have things to say, and we’ll continue on with the message He is about to deliver.
God leads off in v. 17 with two things, “I am God, I want to teach you to profit and lead you in the way you should go.” Hold on, God wants people to profit? I thought corporations were evil machinations of capitalism? Well, you could certainly make a case for the former, but all businesses are run by people, good or evil.
God gave the Israelites all sorts of instructions about earthly possessions and generosity, which is an important part of business. At any rate, God is less concerned with earthly profit than what is “profitable” for our souls, but He is still concerned about both. God continues on in that vein, speaking of their well-being, their righteousness, and their offspring.
What is more startling is what comes in the next few verses. Despite the implication (v. 18) that they did not pay attention to God’s commandments, God is not done with His people. Though judgment was still coming, and captivity in Babylon was imminent, in v. 20 God reveals that He has a plan to free them from Babylon and the captivity of the Chaldeans.
Just as God freed them from Egypt, and gave them water in the desert (v. 21), so would He redeem them from Babylon. They might have said, “Well, can’t we just skip all that?” I don’t think they did, which was why captivity was coming… But God reminds them in the final verse, “There is no peace for the wicked.” In other words, the punishment for their rebellion had to be completed, because they refused to listen, and that brings us full circle.
God is patient and merciful, that we know for certain, or else we’d all likely be blown off the face of the earth. But God has something to say to us, and has already said many things for our benefit through His Word (the Bible). He has not spoken it in secret (v. 16), but it’s written down for all to see. It’s the most widely circulated book, in the most languages, and yet somehow we still ignore it.
Sometimes we think God should speak from heaven with a loud booming voice. Then we would listen, right? To be clear, He could, and might, but I haven’t heard of such a thing in a very long time. Or maybe ever, though God has spoken audibly to some in the Bible, and still does so at times today. His words are recorded for all of us to read, and we need to take the time to pay attention to them.
We still need to pay attention to the nudging of His Spirit throughout our day, but we must not neglect His written word, as it is life and breath to our souls. Read it, learn it, memorize it even. As David wrote, “Your word I have treasured (stored) in my heart, that I may not sin against You.”