Times were tough.
In fact, times were desperate.
They were under attack… again!
So what to do?
What do you do when life is tough?
What do you do when you are under attack?
Perhaps financial pressure?
Perhaps marriage pressure? Difficulty in understanding your loved one?
Perhaps work, or study, or mental pressure?
But how do you respond?
How do you react when things go from bad to worse?
If you’re a Christian, perhaps you pray, or worship, or both. Perhaps you search the Bible for a Scripture to help you through? Perhaps you go to a fellow Christian for prayer or a listening ear?
Or perhaps God is the last place you want to turn?
Perhaps you feel let down by Him? Perhaps your prayers have gone unanswered?
Or perhaps you don’t see the point of having relationship with a God who would let these bad times, these bad things, happen?
It looks like this was where this people group were at.
“What’s the point of praying to God? Let’s look after ourselves.”
So instead of praying, they built up their defences.
“You (They) built a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the Old Pool, but you did not look to the One who made it, or have regard for the One who planned it long ago. – Isaiah 22:11 [NIV]
In the natural, this makes sense.
But in reality, the enemy was so strong and so overwhelming that extra defences would not really help.
They needed a miracle.
But they looked to their own strength and wisdom instead of looking to the One who could and had previously delivered them from impossible circumstances.
One might argue that they were being practical.
A reservoir between walls is a good defence against a mighty army.
But as history should have taught them, their defence and victory was not ever found in their wisdom, in their tactics, nor their strength.
Their defence was found only in their God.
But their actions showed that they had, once again, denied their God.
Sadly, they looked to themselves for their safety.
And, even with these defensive builds, they had given up on God.
Instead of humbling themselves before their God. Instead of seeking His help and His deliverance, they had fallen to despair and hysterically cried out:
“Let us eat and drink,”… “for tomorrow we die!” – Isaiah 22:13b [NIV]
But what did God expect of these people?
What did He want from them?
It would appear that He didn’t want them to use their own means to defend themselves.
Well, as the answer always goes, the key is found in the text:
The Lord, the LORD Almighty, called you on that day to weep and to wail, to tear out your hair and put on sackcloth. – Isaiah 22:12 [NIV]
Their Lord wanted them to humble themselves. To cry out to Him. To turn back to Him.
Not with words only.
But with all of their hearts.
This is repeated in the New Testament, in the book of Acts.
When the people realised that they were living in opposition to God they were told by Peter:
“Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. – Acts 2:38 [NIV]
Repent. Turn away from your current way of living and set your face towards God. Choose Him.
And be baptised.
Baptism symbolises a complete change. A transformation from who you were, to become a new creation in Christ. A joining into a new family with God as the head.
And now, the believer receives the gift of the Holy Spirit.
The third person of the Godhead.
The beautiful part of this, is that we cannot earn our salvation.
We cannot earn this new family and this gift of the Holy Spirit.
It is a gift.
A gift to enter into a new life.
A life that completely and wholly belongs to God.
The example we are shown in Isaiah of people reinforcing their defences instead of doing what they are being called to do demonstrates that they took their life into their own hands instead of trusting the hands of their Maker to protect them.
The believer is called to trust.
We are to understand that our life is not our own. Not ours to control and not a newfound freedom to be taken for granted.
No.
This gift of new life….
We are no longer our own defender.
We are no longer our own saviour.
Now we rely on our new Lord.
Our life is not our own. We have been bought with the life of Jesus Christ.
His sacrifice on the cross of Calvary means our freedom.
So am I saying that we are to do nothing?
Am I saying that we sit back, get fat, and assume that God will just do our bidding?
Have faith.
Because faith is a doing word.
Every time any person is called by God, they are called to action.
Action filled with faith.
Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Rahab, David, Esther, Daniel, Mary, Joseph, Peter, Paul, John, Lydia.
All were called to faith. And all were called to action.
But every single call to action demanded faith. Huge amounts of faith!
Complete reliance in God for His miraculous Hand to do that which they were invited to join in.
So we act, and we do so, full of faith.
Prayer, evangelism, worship, parenting, teaching, relationships…
All of these require action, and all these need to be done with and in faith that God is also going to act and do that which we cannot do.
Only God can transform hearts. Only God can open ears to hear the Good News of the Gospel. Only God can truly bring together people to serve Him with humility and understanding.
Digging defences can be good.
But…
Will we first humble ourselves, will we trust in God to be our Saviour, will we submit to Him and worship Him with everything in our life?
Because this is where the victory lies.
In Christ
Ben
