The Price of Forgetting

Isaiah 17

This passage is a prophecy against Damascus.  Once again, God is not happy with these people, and their punishment is coming.

What can we learn about God?
God is pretty jealous.  Sometimes it's so strange for me to think of God with such human emotions, but He created us and gave us emotions. Therefore, it would make sense that our emotions are also reflections of His. Anyway, God tells Damascus that they have forgotten him (v 10). So he destroys everything they focused on so that they would once again remember their God. This may or may not be relevant, but I noticed that v2 says the ruins of the city will be for the flocks to lie down.  The animals that depended on God will have what was taken away from the people who did not.

What can we learn about people? 
The people of Damascus "forgot" about God. They pushed Him into the back of their minds and didn't think about Him, didn't care about Him. (v 10) They had everything going well for them- plentiful harvests, security of fortresses. Only when all of this was taken away did they look for God (v 7), but at that point it's too late for their city.

What can we take away from this passage?
In Proverbs, there's a passage that says "give me neither poverty nor riches...lest I be full and deny you and say "Who is the Lord?" or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God. (Pr 30:7-9) We can see some of that here.  Don't just look for God or be angry at Him when things are going wrong.  Remember him when things are going well.