The Strength of Quiet Trust
Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help. (Isaiah 31:1) In returning and rest you shall be saved. (Isaiah 30:15)
Isaiah 30; Matt. 11:28-29; Ps. 91:1-2; Prov. 16:17; Isa. 35:8, 10
What Is God Saying?
Judah's back was indeed to the wall. Year after year the proud, determined Assyrians camped outside Jerusalem, waiting for the opportune moment to invade the City of Peace and tear it to shreds. It would be natural for the residents, gripped thus by fear, to look for human help; natural, of course, if they were losing confidence in the God of the supernatural. Egypt, with a good track record of military successes and sharing a hatred of the Assyrians, seemed to be the logical alternative.
Isaiah saw how the wind was blowing. He sensed that fear and materialism were taking hold of the people. The nation was putting its confidence in things readily at hand (the armed forces of Egypt) and the capacity of wealth to buy friends and protecti0n. So they turned toward Egypt. Isaiah tried to stem the tide of Judah's faithlessness, reminding them that their plan was not God’s. God tells them, ‘Despising My word and trusting in the best that can come from any human source, you are like a crack in a high wall that is bulging out and soon to collapse to pieces. In returning and rest you shall be saved.’ If they only said, yes, God had wonderful things in store for them (Isa. 30:18). But they continued to say, no.
How Does This Apply To Us?
The same choice is ours. Today we can trust the power of things to get us by or accept God's plan, trust God's strength, and go God's way. In the face of determined enemies, we can flee in fear or stand in faith. God has given us His Word (the written Word) to be a ‘lamp to our feet and a light to our path.’ God has given us His Word, the living Word, our loving Savior, our risen Lord. With all of this and through all this, God also has given His Word; that is, He has given us His promise. Let us return to the Lord. There we find protection and shelter in the shadow of the Almighty.
Pray With Me
Thank You for showing me, gracious Lord, that so long as I am not resting on Your promises, I will be wrestling with my problems. I must turn toward the light in faith or I will flee toward the shadows in fear. I must look up to You in hope or I will go down to Egypt in desperation. I tend to seek help from people. They seem more real. They can be touched and I am reassured by their touch. Oh Lord, help me to look beyond the visible and tangible to see the deeper reality and infinite strength of my God and His promised ever-present Spirit. I would put to the test Your promise, ‘In returning and rest you shall be saved.’ To go to Egypt, in other words, the attraction of power and an easy life with its appealing comforts, is to go down. To return to You with nothing but a calm trust in Your great power is to go up. Keep me, Lord, from going down from the heights of unshadowed fellowship with You. Lord, You came down to me that I might never have to go down to Egypt. I will return to You and rest with You. You are the only God, my Savior.
In the name of Jesus Christ, by whom I may return and in whose ever-satisfying grace I may always rest. Amen.
Moving On In The Life of Prayer
Prayer is the time we turn from dependence on the material and the temporal. Prayer is the time we return to God. Prayer is the time we open our hearts to God, and, if we remain quiet, if we stop talking and start listening, we will hear a voice behind us, before us, and within us saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it.’ Is taking time to pray worth it? Is it worth it to waste time on anything else when we know God is waiting to be gracious to us? ‘Blessed are all those who wait for Him’ (Isaiah 30.18)!
