“In that day man will have regard for his Maker and his eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel.” (Isaiah 17:7)

The first verses of Isaiah 17 foretold the judgment that was about to come upon Syria & Israel. What was the basis of it? In :7 God revealed the root problem: they were evidently NOT regarding God; their eyes were NOT looking to the Holy One.

Verse :8 shows us what they had substituted for trusting in God: “He will not have regard for the altars, the work of his hands, nor will he look to that which his fingers have made …”. People in those days had substituted other things for God: “religious” things; man-made things, instead of regarding God Himself.

We would be foolish to think that we don’t have the same problem of disregarding God. How often do we  go through long periods of the day, not thinking about God, or looking to Him?  How regularly do we consider some “problem” more weighty than the Lord — evident from the way we anxiously meditate on  those problems, instead trusting Him? And how many times, like Israel, do we fixate our desires on on man-made things instead of our Creator — when only HE will really satisfy us?

It was really idolatry that was the root of Israel’s sin in Isaiah 17.  And we are short-sighted indeed if we don’t realize that we have the same root problem.  It is the First Commandment we are breaking, by not regarding our God.