Today’s reading: Isaiah 46-47; Revelation 13
Two important questions Isaiah 46 puts before us are, (1) In what are you placing your hope for security? and (2) Is it actually able to give you the security you’re looking for from it?
For Israel, the answer to the first question was their idols. This is why Isaiah starts out by pointing out that, far from being able to rescue the Israelites from being taken captive, Bel and Nebo are taken captive with them. The irony is that these gods that they were leaning on for support and security aren't even able to walk themselves, but become an added burden on the captives as they have to carry them off with them into exile. But Isaiah contrasts the Israelites bearing the idols off into captivity with Yahweh who has borne the Israelites since He first brought the nation into existence. He has never been unable to support or protect them, and when they were looking to Him, rather than to these other gods, Israel prospered to an unimaginable degree. God had proven, time and time again, that He is strong and capable of bringing His plans for Israel to fruition, and it was only when they turned from Him to other gods that He withdrew His protection, and actually moved against them in discipline, that things went south for them. The more they relied on their idols, the worse things went.
It just got me thinking how easy it is for us today to look to things other than God for that same kind of security and purpose that Israel was looking for from her idols, and face the same kind of disappointment.
I do want to say, in that regard, that I don't really agree with the trend these days of calling everything an idol. It's super common to hear pastors and teachers say things like, "Anything that takes the #1 spot in your life is an idol," but an idol is not just something you look to for security or identity more than God, it's something you worship and are putting spiritual hope in. So when people say, "You're making [money, career, sports, kids, food, etc] an idol," unless you are worshipping that thing and looking for it to bring you spiritual salvation, no you're not. That doesn't mean you don't have a sinful attitude toward that thing, but I think it's a big mistake to try to equate the two. God uses serious and harsh language for idolaters in the Old Testament, and when we conflate a Christian drawing too much identity from their kids' success in sports or school with Israel's idolatry, we are seriously downplaying the offense that idolatry truly was to God.
That said, we can certainly take a lesson for ourselves from Isaiah's point here. God has made us so many promises, and He is more than capable of seeing His plans and His purposes for us through, but so often we short-circuit His work and provision by seeking to make it on our own. This can look a dozen different ways, but when we do start looking to things other than God for ultimate protection, support, sustaining, identity, purpose, etc., we are setting ourselves up for serious and significant failure. Our stock portfolio may be subject to the whims of the market, but our God is steady and unchanging. Our children may go off the rails, squandering our hopes and plans for them, but our God is steady and unchanging. Our career may tank through no fault of our own, but our God is steady and unchanging. If our hope is in the things of the world for the things that God tells us to look to Him for, we may very well end up like the Israelites, carrying those same things with us off into the exact situations we had hoped they would protect us from.
God is the only steady and secure anchor for our souls, and we should look to nothing and no-one but Him for those things only He can surely provide.
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