The fortified city stands desolate, an abandoned settlement, forsaken like the wilderness; there the calves graze, there they lie down; they strip its branches bare. – Isaiah 27:10

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 18, 2017): Isaiah 27

Last week, President Donald Trump made a grand show of how he has released his interest in his businesses, which he repeatedly told the world he did not have to do and has given control of Trump Industries to his sons. The paper that was produced at the new conference covered an eight-foot table and looked to be more than a foot thick in places. The Donald stressed that this was only part of the paper that he had signed giving the business to his sons. I have to admit that my first reaction was that there was way too much paper laying on the table. It had the feel of a showboat moment. But then again, President Trump had (past tense) a number of business interests.

But then the report broke that reporters were forbidden to look at any of the paper. Apparently, Trump staffers stood guard over the paper making sure that no one had a glance at what was in the pile. I have to admit that my suspicions broke out anew. Was there anything really there? Is it possible that President Trump had presented the world with nothing more than blank paper inside empty file folders? Or maybe there was an intricate web of control that divulged President Trump of governance only during his presidency with ownership reverting to Trump after the presidency was finished. Why would looking at the paper have been such a crime?

The bottom line is that any sale of Trump businesses to his sons only carries meaning if Trump can be trusted to be a man of his word. (One would hope that that might be true, considering he has been just elected to the highest office in the United States, and maybe the free world.) But if President Trump is not a man of his word, then the mountain of paper he presented to the media is nothing more than Firestarter material, no matter what the details might be that are submitted on the sheets of paper.

Isaiah consistently looks at the heart of man. It is the heart that matters. If the heart is not pure, nothing pure can ever emerge from that person. And here he speaks to the mountain of paper presented by President Trump. The fortified city will be desolate. The city of man, the world system, the paper upon which we seem to place our trust will be empty. Because there was nothing there in the first place. It was all a mirage. All that is left is the core of our being, who we really are. In the end, we will not be judged by our contracts and our business dealings. The concern of God has always been our hearts, and who it is that we are when no one is looking.

  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Isaiah 28