I’ve been reading Isaiah as promised in my most recent post, and I’m just finishing chapter 17. Below are a few key verses and what they said to me. This would be a great time to remind you that I am not especially qualified to dispense theological advice or to decipher scripture. I can only share what insights are entering my mind as I encounter the text. So far, the theme bubbling up for me is one of misplaced faith.

6:5 – “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”

To truly enjoy a relationship with God, we first must fully realize the gravity of sin. I have been a Christian almost all my life, saved at an early age. It’s been quite a while since I paused and really, truly pondered the significance of my sin and the price that was paid for it.  Which is probably part of the reason that my faith is not as strong as I’d like it to be. And probably why many of us have trouble genuinely trusting God.

8:12 – Do not call conspiracy everything that these people call conspiracy. Do not fear what they fear or dread it. The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear…

When we get caught up in worldly fears and worries, we aren’t able to work toward God’s plan. We hold too tightly to possessions and ways of life, to status quo, and we are frozen by what might happen to the house of cards we’ve erected for ourselves if we were to breathe too deeply. We get obsessed with our earthly kingdom and lose sight of our heavenly one.

2:22 – Stop trusting in man, who has but a breath in his nostrils, of what account is he?

3:12 Oh my people, your guides lead you astray; they turn  you from the path.

8:19 – Why consult the dead on behalf of the living?

Three different passages, one message for me. Why put faith and expectations in man, when I should trust in God? I too often lean on other people (family especially), to fill my needs. I am much more likely to put faith in my wife, or a close friend, to come through for me. I’m asking too much of them, and not enough of God.

9:9-11 – All the people will know it, Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria, who say with pride and arrogance of heart, “The bricks  have fallen down, but we will rebuild with dressed stone; the fig trees have been felled, but we will replace them with cedars.”

When we overly depend on people to fill the role of God, and we experience disappointment, our natural reaction is to dramatically turn the other direction and build walls to protect ourselves. We fortify our defenses. We allow transgressions from others impact our relationship with God. We develop hard hearts. We let the hurt affect us in negative ways. We reinforce the deep belief that faith will only bring pain, which creates additional barriers for truly giving our trust to God.

10:15 – Does the ax raise itself above him who swings it, or the saw boast against him who uses it?

As a combination of misplacing our faith, of getting consumed by earthly fears, of responding by defending ourselves, we reach a place where it is us taking matters into our own hands. We haven’t trusted God. People have let us down. So, it’s up to us to take charge. We place our faith in ourselves. And so at best, we self-impose an enormous burden, and at worst, we grow to believe that we are in control, and that we are the ones delivering the goods. Not giving God the trust and faith he deserves typically ends up with us not giving Him the credit he deserves either.