How weighty is the description of a nation that has forgotten God, “Your country is desolate...” (Isaiah 1:7)
According to Strong’s, “desolate means waste and devastated.” According to the dictionary, desolate means “laid waste, in a ruinous condition, neglected, destroyed, left alone, forsaken, lonely, comfortless, lost to shame, dissolute (loosed from restraint in morals and conduct, abandoned to sensual pleasures, debauched, profligate).” I included the word “profligate” because its meaning describes just what a country is without God; it means, “broken down in respect of rectitude, principle, virtue, or decency; openly and shamelessly immoral or vicious.” (Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition) A desolate country is empty and waste physically, morally, and spiritually.
Isaiah 5:5,6 describes some of the desolation, “5) And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down: 6) And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.” God’s vineyard was the nation of Israel, which he carefully tended and cared for. Since Israel resisted and rejected God, He would no longer tend or protect His vineyard. It would be eaten up and broken down and trodden upon. It would be laid waste. Instead of fertile gardens and productive vineyards and fields, there would be briers and thorns. Instead of beautiful plants and landscapes, there would be dry, barren land, for God would send no rain upon it. There was no rain of blessing for the nation and no rain to bring water to the crops and thirsty land. There would be only emptiness and uselessness.
A country that has forgotten God is empty – physically, morally, spiritually. It is laid waste. It has no blessing from God. Psalm 107:333,34 describes what God does to a land that is full of wickedness, “33) He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and the watersprings into dry ground; 34) A fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein.”
Is there a remedy for even such a land as this? There is. The remedy is to praise and exalt God. God is the one who can restore the land and lift up the people and make them and their land fruitful. Psalm 107:31,32 says, “31) Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! 32) Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders.” When the nation returns to God and exalts Him instead of themselves and praises Him and acknowledges His works, what does God do for them? God is able to reverse the judgment and turn it into blessing, “35) He turneth the wilderness into a standing water, and dry ground into watersprings. 36) And there he maketh the hungry to dwell, that they may prepare a city for habitation; 37) And sow the fields, and plant vineyards, which may yield fruits of increase. 38) He blesseth them also, so that they are multiplied greatly; and suffereth not their cattle to decrease.” (Psalm 107:35-38) How merciful God is!