You would think that sitting at home day after day would be the best vacation for an introvert or one who is used to working from home. But the weird thing about lockdown – the stay-at-home/stay-safe order – is that it’s isolating and sometimes paralyzing. I know I’m not the only one who is used to working from home and suddenly finds work a chore. It’s almost as though it was easier when we were busier to do what time seems to take from us—ambition. Desire. I find apathy knocking often at my door. I’d rather clean a room that research one more page.
But one thing my husband and I have continued to do during this time is to maintain some type of routine. We may sleep a little later, but we still get up at the same time each day, still spend time praying together and reading the Word. We still shower and dress and act like it’s any other normal day. Except for that itchy part of me that wishes I could see friends, go out to dinner (and therefore not have to cook!), and so much more.
People ask me what I’ve learned during this time when all we seem to have is time, and at first I could only say that we pray more consistently. But today as I was reading Isaiah 22, I realized something. Though this prophecy was written against Jerusalem thousands of years ago, the principle rings true for our time, for our world. Here is what Isaiah told the people of Jerusalem, after he had mourned what was going to happen to them.
Judah’s defenses have been stripped away.
You run to the armory for your weapons.
You inspect the breaks in the walls of Jerusalem.
You store up water in the lower pool.
You survey the houses and tear some down
for stone to strengthen the walls.
Between the city walls, you build a reservoir
for water from the old pool.
But you never ask for help from the One who did all this.
You never considered the One who planned this long ago.
Interestingly, prior to this comment, Isaiah proclaimed why the people were in an uproar:
What is happening?
Why is everyone running to the rooftops?
The whole city is in a terrible uproar.
What do I see in this reveling city?
Bodies are lying everywhere,
killed not in battle but by famine and disease.
ISAIAH MOURNED FOR JERUSALEM.
AND HE WARNED THEM OF GOD’S JUDGMENT, YET THEY RAN AROUND LOOKING FOR WAYS TO FIX IT THEMSELVES.
They looked for ways to fix the walls and check their weapons and add to their provisions. Last night I listened to our leaders talk about all of the supplies they are making and the various provisions they have available for our states to handle this crisis. I don’t know if other countries did or are doing the same thing, but undoubtedly, their leaders have also scrambled to find answers. And of course, they should do that.
BUT ISAIAH’S HEARTACHE CAME THROUGH THE FACT THAT THIS WAS ALL THEY DID.
THEY DIDN’T STOP TO SEEK HELP FROM GOD—THE ONLY ONE WITH THE POWER OVER THESE THINGS.
I know it’s not popular to suggest that God might use plagues and famines and other disasters to get the attention of His people, but if we deny that fact, then we deny the Exodus and the plagues of Egypt. We deny that God the Creator has the right to call us back to Himself when we don’t realize how thoroughly we are rejecting Him. We don’t see the lies we are believing or the great divide between our brokenness and His holiness. If we could catch even a glimpse of His holiness, we would fall to our knees or face down on the ground.
I REALLY DON’T THINK WE COMPREHEND HIS POWER OR HIS JUSTICE.
WE’VE BEEN TAUGHT FOR SO LONG ABOUT HIS LOVE THAT WE FORGET THAT IS NOT ALL HE IS.
AND IF WE TRULY COME TO KNOW WHO HE IS, WE WOULD NEVER BE THE SAME.
Isaiah continues his call to his people with what the Lord their God wanted to see from them, and what they actually gave. It is so typical of our nature. Humans have always struggled with what they want to do, what they think is right in contrast to what God tells them He wants, what He deems is just and right.
At that time the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
called you to weep and mourn.
He told you to shave your heads in sorrow for your sins
and to wear clothes of burlap to show your remorse.
But instead, you dance and play;
you slaughter cattle and kill sheep.
You feast on meat and drink wine.
You say, “Let’s feast and drink,
for tomorrow we die!”
As I read this chapter, I couldn’t help but pause and ponder. I had written a note in the margin the last time I had read it and noted that Isaiah wept with good reason. No one wants to see the destruction of all they know or hold dear. I imagine the people of Jerusalem had strayed far from who they were when they once walked with God. And for Isaiah, who was God’s prophet for his generation, their downfall into sin and their choice to forget God, had to have been devastating.
This time of plague or pandemic or whatever you want to call it, is a crisis, but it is not the only crisis we have seen in our world. Previous generations all the way back to our ancient ancestors have seen wars, famine, pestilence, tsunamis, earthquakes, and more and were equally as devastated as those who suffer most today. We are not alone in our suffering. And for many there is far worse suffering than even this.
THE TRUTH IS, HUMAN BEINGS ARE GOING TO SUFFER IN ONE WAY OR ANOTHER IN OUR SHORT TIME ON THE EARTH. WE LIVE IN A FALLEN WORLD. IF WE ACCEPT THAT SIN HAS MARRED THE BEAUTY GOD INTENDED, THAT WE OURSELVES NEED A SAVIOR FROM OUR OWN SIN NATURE, THEN SUFFERING AND EVIL MAKE A LOT MORE SENSE. AND OUR TENDENCY TO WANDER AND FORGET ALL ABOUT OUR CREATOR IS ALSO PART OF THAT NATURE. SO GOD CALLS US BACK BECAUSE HE WANTS NOTHING MORE THAN TO RECONCILE US WITH HIM.
Why use suffering on a global scale? Did God cause this as He did in ages past when He judged the nations of Scripture? Maybe. Maybe not. Sometimes pain and suffering come at the hand of evil and the evil one who opposes God. (If you don’t believe in a spiritual world where evil pitches itself against God, then that’s another topic.) But God does allow the evil one to rule – for a time. Not forever. But for a time.
And yet at other times, God himself uses a crisis to draw us to look up. To look to Him. It’s fine to shore up the walls of the city and make sure the water supply will hold, but if we don’t look to the Lord for help, all of our efforts will only be temporary fixes. God alone has the power to heal. God alone has the power to redeem. God alone can send the pestilence away with a turning of the wind. He did it in Egypt. He can do it here too.
But He is calling us to seek Him, to ask Him to help us, to humble ourselves as His people and remember Him.
Remember that He is the One with the power to save.
All the social distancing in the world isn’t going to fix a broken world.
Medication, vaccines, ventilators, vitamins, whatever, are never going to be what we truly need, because we need a change of heart.
I know I do.
It is a lifelong journey to learn to trust our God, especially in times when we don’t know what is coming around the next corner. But then we never do, do we? Only God can see the future. Only God can heal the sick, raise the dead, bind up the brokenhearted, set the captives free.
The One we tend to forget is the very One we need to remember.
We don’t want to be like ancient Israel who did everything they could think to do to save themselves, yet failed to call on the only One who had to power to truly set them free.
Something to think about.
~Selah
#rememberthelord #howeasilyweforget #callonthenameofthelord #trustinthelord #onlygod
