Because the daughters of Zion are haughty
and walk with outstretched necks,
glancing wantonly with their eyes,
mincing along as they go,
tinkling with their feet,
17 therefore the Lord will strike with a scab
the heads of the daughters of Zion,
and the Lord will lay bare their secret parts.
18 In that day the Lord will take away the finery of the anklets, the headbands, and the crescents;
19 the pendants, the bracelets, and the scarves; 20 the headdresses, the armlets, the sashes, the perfume boxes, and the amulets;
21 the signet rings and nose rings; 22 the festal robes, the mantles, the cloaks, and the handbags; 23 the mirrors, the linen garments, the turbans, and the veils.
24 Instead of perfume there will be rottenness;
and instead of a belt, a rope;
and instead of well-set hair, baldness;
and instead of a rich robe, a skirt of sackcloth;
and branding instead of beauty.
25 Your men shall fall by the sword
and your mighty men in battle.
26 And her gates shall lament and mourn;
empty, she shall sit on the ground.”
This whole chapter of Isaiah talks about how the Lord will stand against those who refuse to obey his Law and his Word – he will take away the things they need to live. It speaks in general to everyone, but at the very end it speaks to women.
The daughters of Zion, who walk haughtily in their fine things. Most women appreciate beautiful things – and often those things are closely tied to our physicality. Our hair, makeup, clothing, jewelry and other accessories. We like to make ourselves look beautiful. But how easy it is to cross the line from enjoying beauty to vanity. I can easily fall into that when I’m feeling pretty proud of an outfit I’ve put together, or how my body looks or just spending a lot of time window shopping.
But God warns that if we let our outward appearance become more important than our hearts seeking him and our attitudes toward others, it will instead become folly to us. These things aren’t wrong, it is the priority they take over our lives that is wrong. And I’ve fallen into that big time lately. I’ve been distracted by fine things. I’ve been coveting and spending so much time and energy on them. I didn’t read this chapter at this specific time just by accident. God planned this out for me to give me a major wake-up call and time to repent and turn back to him. So, I am asking him to help me to re-focus my thoughts, desires and heart back to being passionate about HIM.
