Where Do You Put Your Trust?; Isaiah 30-31

 

Once again, I’m amazed at the relevance and timeliness of this scripture.  We have an anxiety epidemic in this country.  People are stressed out. Long term economic outlook for the younger generations is very bleak.  Want to flee to somewhere else?  Things are even bleaker in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the UK and most of Europe.  We think, “If so and so could get elected, things will get better.”  Then so and so doesn’t get elected and we feel defeated, or so and so does get elected, but nothing changes.  Campaign promises are broken, and the status quo remains.  I listened to a doctor this week who told one of his patients with high stress to turn off the news for a month.  The patient followed orders, came back in a month, and their sleep quality had improved and their blood pressure had gone down.  We find ourselves anxious and despairing because we put our trust in the wrong things.  We think this program or this person can fix things, if we passed this law or got rid of this one, if we got this job or moved to this place, or made this investment.  King David wrote in Psalm 20:7 “Some boast in chariots, and some in horses, but we trust in the name of Yahweh our God.”  God is the only person in whom we can fully trust.  God’s Word is the only Word we can truly trust. 

            There are many wrong places in which we can put our trust.  One of the worst things we can do is trust in ourselves and make up our own plans without consulting God.  When we don’t ask for God’s guidance, when we try to go it alone, when we devise our own schemes, they very often come back to bite us.  Jeremiah 17:9 says “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.  Who can know it?”  We can get deceived if we follow our heart, especially if we let our emotions lead us.  Even if we use our rational minds, we often do not come up with all the possible solutions.  And although our instincts can be very trustworthy because God gave them to us, we really need to consult God with our plans.  Who knows the heart?  God does.  The Bible study group is looking at the Exodus Way—how God leads us out of bad situations, leads us through wilderness times, and leads us into the Promised Land, God’s kingdom.  Our podcast episodes this week pointed out that many of the situations from which we need Exodus—for God to lead us out—are ones of our own making.  Somewhere along the line, we deviated from the plan God had for us.  This is what we see in our passage today.  God’s own people are falling under judgment because they had devised their own scheme instead of trusting God.  Assyria was threatening them, but instead of asking for God’s direction and deliverance, they rebelled against Yahweh, and looked elsewhere for help.

            This leads to the next bad place to put one’s trust which is in unholy alliances.  Israel decides it will make an alliance with Egypt, the country that had oppressed them for 400 years.  Paul warns us about forming unholy alliances in 2 Corinthians 6:14ff.   

    Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?  What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said:  'I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.’  Therefore, ‘Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord.  Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”   And, ‘I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.’

Unholy alliances can result with us ending up indebted to those who want to see us fail.  Isaiah warns Israel that this alliance with Egypt is going to end up in their humiliation.  The rulers of Egypt will not be able to help them.  Military might often backfires.  We have seen this time and time again in our own country’s history.  Let’s pray we aren’t making the same mistake again!  Certainly, the regime change in Syria hasn’t gone so well, especially for Syrian Christians.  Alliances are costly.  Tribute would have to be paid to Egypt in the form of money and goods, but often in return military service.  Ray Ortlund in his commentary on Isaiah points out that human favor is costly, but often worthless.  It certainly was going to be for Israel.  We must not try to spiritualize unholy alliances nor fall prey to the idea that the ends justify the means.  Sometimes God does call us to work with those who are very different from us, but we must only do so as God guides us. 

            The third bad place to put our trust in bad advice and flattery.  How many times have you witnessed people asking for advice or searching online for advice only to ignore or dismiss said advice when it didn’t affirm what they wanted to hear?  Maybe you have been guilty of this.  We Instead of listening to the Lord, and going so far as to try to silence the seers and prophets, told them to speak pleasant words.  They didn’t want to hear about God, let alone about what God had to say.  They didn’t want to be reminded of God’s commandments.  Often we want to remake God in our image instead of being conformed to God’s image.  We need to be careful not be drawn in by pleasant words when we need to receive the prophetic word.  Flannery O’Connor wrote, “The truth does not change according to your ability to stomach it.” 

            The consequences for misplaced trust can be disastrous.  For Israel, God says through Isaiah that their destruction will come suddenly and unexpectedly and so complete that it will be like a clay pot that is broken so violently that all is left is dust and crumbles so small that none is big enough to scoop a coal from the fire or to scoop water out of a cistern.  Our misplaced trust can leave us utterly defeated and broken. 

            But there is hope and good news.  When we find ourselves broken and defeated because we have misplaced our trust, the solution is simple and readily available.  God’s good word to Israel and to us is this: “In repentance and rest, you shall be saved, in quietness and trust is your strength.”  All we have to do is call out to God in repentance and rest in Him.  We have to let God take control and trust in Him and His goodness.  At first glance, we may find God’s way to be unhelpful.  Waiting on the Lord in the middle of a “crisis”?  That’s a real challenge.  And God can be demanding.  God’s commandments, after all, are non-negotiable, and aren’t always easy to follow.  Loving your neighbor is tough.  Loving your enemy is even tougher.  Denying yourself?  When we find ourselves being offended by something Christ asks us to do, we need to ask ourselves why.  There’s probably a sin in there that needs confessing, and something for which we may need to ask for God’s help.

            Sadly, Israel refused to repent.  God says that they were not willing.  Instead, they tried to flee the coming Assyrian army on horses.  Even so, God didn’t give up on them.  Isaiah says, “The Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore, He is on high to have compassion on you.  For Yahweh is a God of justice.  How blessed as those who wait for Him.”  God is patient with us as well.  God waits for us to repent and to call out to Him.  He will carry out justice.  Isaiah continues the good news, “A people will inhabit Zion, Jerusalem.  You will weep no longer.  He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry.  When He hears it, He will answer you.”  Bible study friends, if that last phrase sounds like what we heard this week in our study, you are correct in seeing the pattern that God always answers when His people cry out to Him.  The One who has withheld blessings from the unrepentant lavishes them on the repentant. The One who has wounded in judgment, will heal all wounds in love.  He will be your Teacher and show you the way you should go.  The proverb says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your path.”  Isaiah then says they will get rid of their idols.  When we see who God is and what God can do, we will willingly destroy our own idols.  All it takes is repentance.  God always responds to repentance with mercy.

            This message in Isaiah 30-31 was for the nation more than it was for individuals.  I think we need to hear the same concerns as a nation.  We have celebrated Independence Day, but our nation is not in great shape today.  The dollar is on the verge of collapse.  Our Constitutional freedoms for which the founders of this country fought so hard for and drafted so carefully are being eroded.  Our citizens are largely unhealthy.  Our people are divided.  As a country, we are putting our trust in the wrong places.  I finished reading my required books for my theology group in October, so I am back to reading for fun.  I picked up this book about the CIA.  Listen to this snippet about the fall of Communism in Europe after the Berlin wall and Soviet Union collapsed…

    ...The fall of Communism was the result of a huge undercurrent; a longing for civil and religious freedom among the people which could no longer be restrained...When Communism fell in the East, the people did not pour into the streets waving American flags or praising the CIA for its power and prowess.  They broke out into the streets in droves and celebrated Communion.  Churches barely tolerated during the Cold War which had not been closed down by the government were swamped.  The Soviet Duma began having daily Bible studies during its sessions.  The sad part was, while the former Soviet Union was introducing the Bibe in its government sessions and placing it as a part of student curricula in its schools, America had kicked the Bible out of education and almost every part of open public life.  I watched the beginning of one inspiring revival of religious freedom in the East, and the slow elimination of another in America, occurring despite the warnings of the framers of the Constitution.  It was if we had become so fat and happy we had forgotten the fundamental truth which gave us our freedom and liberty.

The author, Kevin Shipp, goes on to share a conversation he had with a former KGB agent.

    'You know, Kevin, our country has left communism and is now a democracy.'
     'Yes, I know, that is wonderful.'    
     'But there is one thing we have learned.'     
     'What is that?'                      
     'We have learned a free society cannot function without a belief in the Bible.'                                       

 Amazed, I responded, 'You know, you are right!'  I will never forget that moment and how ironic it was that the opposite seemed to be happening in America--the country which had communicated this truth to the world for so many decades.  Communism had fallen because of human being's innage thirst for true religion, freedom, and meaning in life.

And we as a country have turned even further from God today than he was talking about then.  And for some reason, we want to make Russia, a majority Christian country, whose adherence to the faith rivals and percentage wise by some surveys, exceeds ours, our enemy.  Perceived enemies are not the real threat.  God will take care of them, just as God took care of Assyria.  God told them that He was going to fight them in multiple ways—with natural disasters, and in battles, and that they would be the one burned up on the Topheth.  God is our ally.  The gospel is truth. God is our only hope.  Ray Ortlund in his commentary on Isaiah wrote, “Our only hope is in abandoning every other hope, however obvious.  Our only truth is in disbelieving every other truth, however widely accepted.  Our only safety is in trust; our only stability is in yielding control; our only freedom is in surrender.”  Our future with Christ is secure and joy-filled, and nothing can separate us from God’s love.

            What do your actions say about your trust in God?  Do you act like God isn’t in the picture?  Do you ask God to bless your schemes and plans instead of asking God what His plan is?  Do you live as if you have to go it alone?  Do you try to find your own solutions to your problems without consulting God?  Do you feel like you have to make compromises with people whose values oppose yours simply to get things done?  It happened a lot during COVID.  Remember that God is not obligated to bless your plans, but God does bless your obedience when you walk in His plans.  Again, from Ray Ortlund's commentary on Isaiah:

  ...whatever God says to us in the gospel, he speaks with love and grace.  Some of his truths will melt in your mouth.  Other truths will hit you like a ton of bricks.  But everything God says opens up to you the life hidden with Christ in God--if you are open.  Trust him enough to keep listening.  Give his gospel a willing audience in the inmost chamber of your soul, whatever his Word says.  Do not listen with detachment, but open your heart wide to God.  He will surprise you with how his wisdom really does work. 

May we off-load “our alliances with the false salvations of this world, and enter more and more into the life that is hidden for us with Christ in God.”  How do we do this?  We become like little children reaching out to our Heavenly Father, and He will give “songs in the night.”