|
“Wind and Confusion”
I think that most of us would agree that much of the world around us is heading toward total destruction and are thrilled to death about it. I stopped watching the news a long time ago for the simple (and selfish) reason that I couldn’t make it through a single broadcast without getting misty-eyed at least. The murders, the child abuse, the very outward turmoil in other countries and the more subversive problems in our own, the immorality of our leaders, and the brokenness of people acting out in the wrong ways placed such a level of despair in my heart that I chose ignorance rather the upset it caused me. I also realize now that I chose disbelief rather than faith in God.
I’ve recently been doing a study on Isaiah, which has always been a book of the Bible that caused me a great deal of trepidation. I read it with a very narrow-minded perspective, and all I could think of was how a God who professed to be loving could do the things He was doing to His own people (ie the Babylonian captivity). This study has taught me differently, however. God went to great lengths to win His people back to Him before they caused their own destruction, and one of the methods He used, through the prophet Isaiah, was to compare the nations they feared and the idols they worshipped to Himself. He said, “Before Him all the nations are as nothing; they are regarded by Him as worthless and less than nothing” (Is. 40:17). I find this verse very heartening! I look around me and the world powers seem to be in control. They seem to dictate my fate in ways I can in no way control, and if I let my mind continue down that path there seems to be no hope. But God declares that they are nothing compared to Him! God is in absolute control, especially over the leaders of the nations. I especially love the parts of Isaiah where God talks about Cyrus, the king of Persia, a pagan nation, who had caused great fear because of his sweeping victories over the Medes and Lydians. This powerful warlord and ruler was subject to God. God would use him to free His people from the Babylonians. In fact, God frequently talks of His manipulation of the world rulers at the time to accomplish His purposes. How comforted should we be then! Even though we, in our limited perception, cannot see God’s master plan, He certainly controls our world and its leaders. After all, hasn’t He “measured the waters in the hollow of his hand” and “held the dust of the earthy in a basket”? No one can come close to Him! The Israelites suffered much at the hands of their world’s rulers and later saw the magnificent pattern of God’s hand, and I think that we can take a lesson from their experience. The world, with all of the president’s bad decisions, with all of the turmoil in Egypt, and all of the other frightening problems that surround us, are “less than nothing” before the Lord. And I look forward to the day when we can look back and see the pattern of God’s loving hand in all of this.
God’s condemnation of the idols the Israelites worshipped is also heartening and to be honest, pretty funny. He says of idols, “[The wood] is man’s fuel for burning; some of it he takes and warms himself, he kindles a fire and bakes bread. But he also fashions a god and worships it; he makes an idol and bows down to it” (Is. 44:15). OK let’s take a few minutes to just sort of play this scenario out. This Israelite looks at his wood pile and thinks, “Dude! I’m almost out of wood! Better go get some.” He grabs his axe and chops down a tree, sections it out into individual logs, and splits them. He takes some into his home and builds a fire where he sits to warm himself while his wife uses it to cook his supper. Then, he gets news that his dog just got hit by a chariot, and in a thought process I can’t quite fathom, he goes out to his wood pile, grabs a log, and carves it into the figure of a man and throws himself down before it. He offers it a sacrifice and prays for the recovery of his pet. Did I miss a step here? It makes no sense! And God points this out, saying, “Present your case. . . Set forth your arguments. . . Bring in your idols to tell us what is going to happen. . . Do something, whether good or bad, so that we will be dismayed and filled with fear” (Is. 41:22-23). This actually cracks me up! I love these little glimpses into God’s character, because I’d say God is being pretty sarcastic here. He’s ridiculing the idols that the Israelites put so much faith in. He’s trying to make them see how silly they’re being, looking to these wooden images when the living God, who parted seas and sent food from the sky, is right before them trying desperately to get their attention! And yes, we can all laugh at how stupid the Israelites were, but I’m thinking we haven’t evolved much. After all, we set up money, possessions, sports, jobs, and even our own children as idols before the Lord, to name only a few. I’m sure we look pretty ridiculous to God as He looks down on us, metaphorically on the ground before our BMW M5 (OK around here probably our King Ranch Edition Heavy Duty Ford pick-up. . . or Honda Civic, take your pick). And yet God says, “To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal? . . . Lift your eyes to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name” (Is. 40:25-26) and “But [idols] are less than nothing and your works are utterly worthless; he who chooses you is detestable” (Is. 41:24). In other words, why in the world are you worshipping the created thing rather than the creator? And when placed in that context, we have no defense. Yet, despite our faithlessness, and that of the Israelites, He promises redemption: “I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you” (Is. 44:22). He is strong and mighty and even frightening in His anger. He defends Himself and His people ferociously. And yet, He is tender and gentle and loving and willing to use His massive strength and power for His people. How could we not love and adore such a God?
So, in light of all of this evidence, I don’t think I’m going to worry about watching the news anymore. I’ll look at it, remember these verses, and know that God is entirely and completely in control. I’ll pray for those in distress and those trying to rule our world and try to fulfill the calling God has put upon my life. But most of all I’ll know that my God is greater than nations and leaders and definitely greater than anything here on this earth that He’s created but that we try to set up before Him. Because compared to God, “Their deeds amount to nothing; their images are but wind and confusion” (Is. 41:29). I think that’s a pretty accurate assessment for what’s going on in the world around us, and the next time I start worrying about my world and the crazy things I can’t control, I’ll hear God’s voice whispering in my ear, “It’s nothing but wind and confusion, babe, just wind and confusion.”
“Wind and Confusion”
I think that most of us would agree that much of the world around us is heading toward total destruction and are thrilled to death about it. I stopped watching the news a long time ago for the simple (and selfish) reason that I couldn’t make it through a single broadcast without getting misty-eyed at least. The murders, the child abuse, the very outward turmoil in other countries and the more subversive problems in our own, the immorality of our leaders, and the brokenness of people acting out in the wrong ways placed such a level of despair in my heart that I chose ignorance rather the upset it caused me. I also realize now that I chose disbelief rather than faith in God.
I’ve recently been doing a study on Isaiah, which has always been a book of the Bible that caused me a great deal of trepidation. I read it with a very narrow-minded perspective, and all I could think of was how a God who professed to be loving could do the things He was doing to His own people (ie the Babylonian captivity). This study has taught me differently, however. God went to great lengths to win His people back to Him before they caused their own destruction, and one of the methods He used, through the prophet Isaiah, was to compare the nations they feared and the idols they worshipped to Himself. He said, “Before Him all the nations are as nothing; they are regarded by Him as worthless and less than nothing” (Is. 40:17). I find this verse very heartening! I look around me and the world powers seem to be in control. They seem to dictate my fate in ways I can in no way control, and if I let my mind continue down that path there seems to be no hope. But God declares that they are nothing compared to Him! God is in absolute control, especially over the leaders of the nations. I especially love the parts of Isaiah where God talks about Cyrus, the king of Persia, a pagan nation, who had caused great fear because of his sweeping victories over the Medes and Lydians. This powerful warlord and ruler was subject to God. God would use him to free His people from the Babylonians. In fact, God frequently talks of His manipulation of the world rulers at the time to accomplish His purposes. How comforted should we be then! Even though we, in our limited perception, cannot see God’s master plan, He certainly controls our world and its leaders. After all, hasn’t He “measured the waters in the hollow of his hand” and “held the dust of the earthy in a basket”? No one can come close to Him! The Israelites suffered much at the hands of their world’s rulers and later saw the magnificent pattern of God’s hand, and I think that we can take a lesson from their experience. The world, with all of the president’s bad decisions, with all of the turmoil in Egypt, and all of the other frightening problems that surround us, are “less than nothing” before the Lord. And I look forward to the day when we can look back and see the pattern of God’s loving hand in all of this.
God’s condemnation of the idols the Israelites worshipped is also heartening and to be honest, pretty funny. He says of idols, “[The wood] is man’s fuel for burning; some of it he takes and warms himself, he kindles a fire and bakes bread. But he also fashions a god and worships it; he makes an idol and bows down to it” (Is. 44:15). OK let’s take a few minutes to just sort of play this scenario out. This Israelite looks at his wood pile and thinks, “Dude! I’m almost out of wood! Better go get some.” He grabs his axe and chops down a tree, sections it out into individual logs, and splits them. He takes some into his home and builds a fire where he sits to warm himself while his wife uses it to cook his supper. Then, he gets news that his dog just got hit by a chariot, and in a thought process I can’t quite fathom, he goes out to his wood pile, grabs a log, and carves it into the figure of a man and throws himself down before it. He offers it a sacrifice and prays for the recovery of his pet. Did I miss a step here? It makes no sense! And God points this out, saying, “Present your case. . . Set forth your arguments. . . Bring in your idols to tell us what is going to happen. . . Do something, whether good or bad, so that we will be dismayed and filled with fear” (Is. 41:22-23). This actually cracks me up! I love these little glimpses into God’s character, because I’d say God is being pretty sarcastic here. He’s ridiculing the idols that the Israelites put so much faith in. He’s trying to make them see how silly they’re being, looking to these wooden images when the living God, who parted seas and sent food from the sky, is right before them trying desperately to get their attention! And yes, we can all laugh at how stupid the Israelites were, but I’m thinking we haven’t evolved much. After all, we set up money, possessions, sports, jobs, and even our own children as idols before the Lord, to name only a few. I’m sure we look pretty ridiculous to God as He looks down on us, metaphorically on the ground before our BMW M5 (OK around here probably our King Ranch Edition Heavy Duty Ford pick-up. . . or Honda Civic, take your pick). And yet God says, “To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal? . . . Lift your eyes to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name” (Is. 40:25-26) and “But [idols] are less than nothing and your works are utterly worthless; he who chooses you is detestable” (Is. 41:24). In other words, why in the world are you worshipping the created thing rather than the creator? And when placed in that context, we have no defense. Yet, despite our faithlessness, and that of the Israelites, He promises redemption: “I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you” (Is. 44:22). He is strong and mighty and even frightening in His anger. He defends Himself and His people ferociously. And yet, He is tender and gentle and loving and willing to use His massive strength and power for His people. How could we not love and adore such a God?
So, in light of all of this evidence, I don’t think I’m going to worry about watching the news anymore. I’ll look at it, remember these verses, and know that God is entirely and completely in control. I’ll pray for those in distress and those trying to rule our world and try to fulfill the calling God has put upon my life. But most of all I’ll know that my God is greater than nations and leaders and definitely greater than anything here on this earth that He’s created but that we try to set up before Him. Because compared to God, “Their deeds amount to nothing; their images are but wind and confusion” (Is. 41:29). I think that’s a pretty accurate assessment for what’s going on in the world around us, and the next time I start worrying about my world and the crazy things I can’t control, I’ll hear God’s voice whispering in my ear, “It’s nothing but wind and confusion, babe, just wind and confusion.”
|
|