I was reading this in my devotions the other day, and thought I’d share with you guys a little of waht God has been teaching me lately. I’ve been going through Isaiah and came accross this verse:
“Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But the LORD of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. ”
Isaiah 8:12-13
This world can be a terrifying place sometimes. Wars, catastrophes, natural disasters, there is always something to be afraid of, something people are talking about in hushed whispers or desperate cries. Certainly this was true in Isaiah’s day. When God gave this word to Isaiah, his country, Judah, was under attack by Israel and Syria. Israel and Judah were kindred nations, the same people divided under the rule of two kingdoms. They were supposed to be allies. However Israel conspired to conquer Judah and enlisted the help of Syria. Ahaz, the King of Judah planned to pay a large tribute to the king of Assyria, in hopes of persuading Assyria to side with Judah against Israel and Syria. Certainly there were many conspiracy theories floating around Judah at the time; it was a time of fear, confusion, war and turmoil.
In 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles we learn a little more about the peoples of Judah and Israel during this time. They were in the midst of a spiritually dark period of their histories. Both nations were following after false gods, and had abandoned the Lord, the One who made them into a nation, and protected them from their enemies. Neither Israel nor Judah had any thought about God at this time, and instead were focused on the politics of the day, and the terrifying prospects of being conquered.
In a lot of ways this is similar to today, or almost any point in history for that matter. Human beings are always involved in conflicts, always scared of disasters, always coming up with conspiracy theories. And yet we as Christians are told to just trust God, he’s got everything under control, no matter how ridiculous that sounds to us sometimes. People often ask, “What is God doing?” not expecting any sort of answer, and rightly so; God has no obligation to explain Himself. The fact that He occasionally gives us glimpses of what’s going on behind the scenes is a gracious act on His part.
However, we are privileged to see God’s side of things in the opening chapters of Isaiah. It turns out that God was intentionally causing all this turmoil and strife. He was using one nation to punish another, because His people had abandoned Him. Judah and Israel were supposed to be lights among the darkness of the pagan nations surrounding them. Yet they had become just like the pagan nations but still were known to be the people of YAWEH. To allow Israel to be wicked and successful would be an affront to God’s character.
In this instance, things seemed like they were spinning wildly out of control to the people of Judah. But they were fearing the wrong thing. They feared Israel and Syria, they hoped in Assyria. They should be fearing God who brought these nations against them, they should have been hoping in God, repenting and turning back to Him, looking to Him for salvation. In truth this is what He sent Isaiah to proclaim in Judah, but the people did not listen. Nothing was out of control, everything was happening exactly as God was planning and willing it to happen, in fact in this case, it was God who was bringing calamity upon His people. The problem was just that no one trusted Him.
The same is true today. People say the world is out of control, that we are all doomed. There are hundreds of conspiracies discussed among politicians, whispered among friends and flamed across the internet. All these are ultimately a distraction from the real issue. God is in Heaven and He is doing all that He pleases. Not only is He capable of handling all the problems of this world, all of them are happening exactly according to His plan and purpose. He we must honor as Holy, He is the one we should fear. Isaiah is a testimony to God’s Sovereignty, His declaration that he knows the beginning from the end, and that He is working all things exactly according to His purpose. There is much wrong in the world today, but God is working both in spite of it, and through it to bring about the perfection of all things according to His promises.
Now, I want to be clear that I am not trying to make some point about God judging America, or that the tragedies which have befallen us lately are what we deserve. That may or may not be true, and regardless it would not justify the evils of terrorism, oppression and tyranny. My point is that if we as Christians fear these enemies, if we wrap ourselves up in politics and conspiracies at the expense of forgetting about God, then we run the same risk that the peoples of Israel and Judah did: we risk incurring God’s discipline. He will not be ignored. I believe He is more concerned with the hearts of His children, and the work of His Church than with nations and conflicts and politics. Certainly these are important, but if we fear them more than we fear the One who moves all of history according to His purpose we will be overcome with despair and hopelessness. Our focus must be on God, and His words, and His teachings, we should fear sinning and dishonoring God more than we fear wars and poverty. We should seek first to build the Kingdom of God before we concern ourselves with any earthly kingdom. Nations will rise and fall, but God reigns through eternity.
Our God is in the heavens;
he does all that he pleases
Psalm 115:3