day no. 16,233: the moxie to be contentedly milquetoast

Isaiah 3:1-4

For behold, the Lord GOD of hosts

is taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah

support and supply,

all support of bread,

and all support of water; 

the mighty man and the soldier,

the judge and the prophet,

the diviner and the elder, 

the captain of fifty

and the man of rank,

the counselor and the skillful magician

and the expert in charms. 

And I will make boys their princes,

and infants shall rule over them.

A clear sign of God's judgment is the evaporation of masculine authority. If the heat of the day causes men to fade rather than fight, it is an indication that God is working against a people, not for them; or that He is working for them by giving them what they deserve so that they might observe and openly repent.

Calvin in commenting on these verse had this to say, 

“The strong man, and the man of war He mentions other ends which contribute to the safety and good order either of nations or of cities. Of these he threatens that the Jews will be wholly deprived, so that they will neither have wisdom or bravery at battle, nor military forces abroad. He is not careful to attend to order, but is satisfied with giving a short abridgement, and mixes one subject with another. He begins with men of war, into whose hands was committed the defense of the country. God sometimes takes them away by death, and sometimes by making them soft and effeminate. The latter is more frequent, so that posterity degenerates from the bravery of ancestors, and those who were formerly courageous become, in process of time, cowardly and unfit for war. But we see also that the former sometimes happens, in consequence of which the boldest men suddenly lose heart.”

Boldness is inescapable. There will either be boldness for righteousness or against it. The one who runs from the battle may lack boldness on the battlefield, but he has it in aces when it comes to his cowardice. He may not have the courage to do the right thing, but he finds the courage to do the wrong thing. Cowardice is courage in lesser things. It is boldly departing from the straight and true. It takes a particular type of moxie to be contentedly milquetoast. When God gives men over, they do not cease going somewhere, but rather go boldly where they ought not to go. Without God's help, men cannot be courageous in that which is Christlike. A sure sign of His passive wrath is a feast of effeminacy and a famine of virtue.