Cushy Spirituality

In Isaiah 18, the prophet rebukes the land of Cush. Why? Because Cush is desperate for protection and so they seek out the help of the very nation that is bent on destroying all others -  Assyria. 

Isaiah 18:1–2 (ESV) Ah, land of whirring wings that is beyond the rivers of Cush, 2 which sends ambassadors by the sea, in vessels of papyrus on the waters! Go, you swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth, to a people feared near and far, a nation mighty and conquering, whose land the rivers divide.

God speaks of surprise from a human point of view here discussing the fact that Cush is busy putting together papyrus vessels that are in a hurry to sail across the sea and enlist the help of Assyria (a nation mighty and conquering). 

It's kind of what we do. We chase whoever seems to be most important. We seek the approval or acceptance of worldly powers in hopes that they might make our lives secure. The governments of many nations would love to play the role of our savior. They want your ultimate hope and alliance. They can control things far more that way. 

Here's how God sees what Cush is doing:

Isaiah 18:3–4 (ESV) All you inhabitants of the world, you who dwell on the earth, when a signal is raised on the mountains, look! When a trumpet is blown, hear! 4 For thus the LORD said to me: “I will quietly look from my dwelling like clear heat in sunshine, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”

God watches clearly. He sees what no man can see. He identifies the trouble ahead for Cush before she can see it. So too in our lives, God knows what lies ahead in our own idolatrous trust in this world's powers. And this is where our faith must land. We must seek and trust the Lord who knows all things instead of the visible temporal images that seem trustworthy at the moment. 

Then Isaiah describes how God will act at the right time for judgment. 

Isaiah 18:5–6 (ESV) For before the harvest, when the blossom is over, and the flower becomes a ripening grape, he cuts off the shoots with pruning hooks, and the spreading branches he lops off and clears away. 6 They shall all of them be left to the birds of prey of the mountains and to the beasts of the earth. And the birds of prey will summer on them, and all the beasts of the earth will winter on them.

Every world power that has come before has fallen. What makes any think they would be any different. Even now the cultural west is starting to show cracks in its facade of strength and economic prosperity. But long after it is fallen, the Lord will still reign in the heavens. 

Assyria was a symbol of strength in Isaiah's day. She inspired lesser nations like Cush to place their hope in her. But Assyria is a byword in history. Gone forever and absorbed into the nations of the world. 

Today, perhaps many of her descendants are Christians. And in their service to the Lord, they fulfill the final words of Isaiah 18.

Isaiah 18:7 (ESV) At that time tribute will be brought to the LORD of hosts from a people tall and smooth, from a people feared near and far, a nation mighty and conquering, whose land the rivers divide, to Mount Zion, the place of the name of the LORD of hosts.

God is over those who seem so important now. And at the right time, He brings them low and they serve Him. So why put your trust in the temporal image of strength when the strong and mighty One has come to strengthen you?