When You Forsake God You Miss Out

Isaiah is teaching Israel that only in the Lord is there hope and strength. He is the one who made them and formed them, who loves them and can rebuild them and protect them. To abandon Him is unwise because it leads to self-destruction. 

Isaiah 31:1 (ESV) Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses, who trust in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel or consult the LORD!

A woe is proclaimed over those who would seek the power of Egypt against Assyria. The political maneuvering of Israel's leaders offered false hope. Yes, it made sense in the flesh, but it offered no true protection in the spiritual realm - the realm that determines what ultimately happens in the flesh. 

The next verse begins to unpack what God brings to our lives. 

Isaiah 31:2 (ESV) And yet he is wise and brings disaster; he does not call back his words, but will arise against the house of the evildoers and against the helpers of those who work iniquity.

He brings wisdom. He brings disaster. He brings faithfulness and justice. He is the God you want and the God you need.

In the next verse, God reveals that He alone is able to determine what happens. 

Isaiah 31:3 (ESV) The Egyptians are man, and not God, and their horses are flesh, and not spirit. When the LORD stretches out his hand, the helper will stumble, and he who is helped will fall, and they will all perish together.

The Lord's hand once drowned the Egyptians in the sea. And now Israel wants their help? How quickly we forget the Lord who saved us is the Lord who can sustain us!

Then Isaiah unpacks a personal revelation from the Lord.

Isaiah 31:4–5 (ESV) For thus the LORD said to me, “As a lion or a young lion growls over his prey, and when a band of shepherds is called out against him he is not terrified by their shouting or daunted at their noise, so the LORD of hosts will come down to fight on Mount Zion and on its hill. 5 Like birds hovering, so the LORD of hosts will protect Jerusalem; he will protect and deliver it; he will spare and rescue it.”

The Lord is not afraid nor intimidated by what intimidates us. He is undaunted by the terrors in your heart. Trust Him!

Isaiah 31:6–7 (ESV) Turn to him from whom people have deeply revolted, O children of Israel. 7 For in that day everyone shall cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which your hands have sinfully made for you.

A final call is made by Isaiah to come back to Him. Even though there was rebellion in your past, there can be renewal in your future. God is ever gracious to His own. 

The greatest reason to stay near God is that He can do for you what everything you're giving Him up for cannot do. He alone can be God. 

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