A Question Of Trust
Opening Prayer
Lord God, how great You are! Intensify my awareness of Your love and speak Your will clearly to me now.
Read ISAIAH 2:6–22
6 You, Lord, have abandoned your people,
the descendants of Jacob.
They are full of superstitions from the East;
they practice divination like the Philistines
and embrace pagan customs.
7 Their land is full of silver and gold;
there is no end to their treasures.
Their land is full of horses;
there is no end to their chariots.
8 Their land is full of idols;
they bow down to the work of their hands,
to what their fingers have made.
9 So people will be brought low
and everyone humbled—
do not forgive them.
10 Go into the rocks, hide in the ground
from the fearful presence of the Lord
and the splendor of his majesty!
11 The eyes of the arrogant will be humbled
and human pride brought low;
the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.
12 The Lord Almighty has a day in store
for all the proud and lofty,
for all that is exalted
(and they will be humbled),
13 for all the cedars of Lebanon, tall and lofty,
and all the oaks of Bashan,
14 for all the towering mountains
and all the high hills,
15 for every lofty tower
and every fortified wall,
16 for every trading ship
and every stately vessel.
17 The arrogance of man will be brought low
and human pride humbled;
the Lord alone will be exalted in that day,
18 and the idols will totally disappear.
19 People will flee to caves in the rocks
and to holes in the ground
from the fearful presence of the Lord
and the splendor of his majesty,
when he rises to shake the earth.
20 In that day people will throw away
to the moles and bats
their idols of silver and idols of gold,
which they made to worship.
21 They will flee to caverns in the rocks
and to the overhanging crags
from the fearful presence of the Lord
and the splendor of his majesty,
when he rises to shake the earth.
22 Stop trusting in mere humans,
who have but a breath in their nostrils.
Why hold them in esteem?
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Meditate
What are the kinds of things you are tempted to look to for your security and happiness?
Think Further
A colleague recently suggested in a sermon that trust is not simply faith in God but letting go of control. So often we may believe with our head that God can and will do what is best for us, yet our heart and actions show that we still want to control the outcome.
Isaiah describes just such an attitude in God’s people. In an ironic reversal, it is not the nations who learn from Israel about her God but Israel who is learning superstitions and magical practices from them (6) in order to manipulate the unseen world. The alliances she makes, the amassing of money and military power (7) and the worship of idols (8) are all signs of wanting to control her fate (the likely Hebrew meaning of “clasp hands with pagans” in verse 6). Her actions mirror Solomon’s life and, by implication, warn of the consequences (1 Kings 10:21—11:13; cf. Deut. 17:14–20). The pride described is not simply overconfidence or boasting. Rather, it is a trust in human power and ability (22)—even though it is God who breathes life into us (Gen. 2:7).
God’s people will have to be trampled down before they will be forced to acknowledge his majesty. In repeated phrases, Isaiah describes the humbling of arrogance (9,11,17), the fleeing into caves (10,19,21) and the scenes of terror, alluding perhaps to the Assyrian conquest of Judah. Ironically, the precious idols, so highly valued before as the source of prosperity and safety, will be thrown to unclean animals (20), symbolic of their impurity (Lev. 11:3,19). Such humiliation seems cruel yet, as hardened as Judah is, there is no way other than the stripping away of all her resources to help her realize where true security lies. The question and exhortation of verse 22 challenge us all to depend on God rather than on our own abilities, possessions or achievements.
Apply
What echoes to modern life can be found in verses 6–9? How and when do think God’s judgment on such things will happen?
Closing prayer
Lord, may I act in ways that demonstrate my trust in Your power and goodness.
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