We Need Constant Reminders - God is in Charge

Isaiah 41:1–4 (ESV) Listen to me in silence, O coastlands; let the peoples renew their strength; let them approach, then let them speak; let us together draw near for judgment. 2 Who stirred up one from the east whom victory meets at every step?  He gives up nations before him, so that he tramples kings underfoot; he makes them like dust with his sword, like driven stubble with his bow. 3 He pursues them and passes on safely, by paths his feet have not trod. 4 Who has performed and done this, calling the generations from the beginning? I, the Lord, the first, and with the last; I am he. 

God is speaking and we need to listen in silence. What does He say here? He reminds Israel that everything that has happened on the international stage - even the things that have threatened them - have been orchestrated by Him all along. 

You consider the Old Testament narrative of Israel in comparison to the legend stories of other cultures. Israel is portrayed in a most unflattering picture. Chosen yet constantly corrected by their God. Blessed but then greatly disciplined for decades at times. Their story illustrates an history that only could be true because no nation would make this up about themselves. 

Israel was taught and believed - their God was behind the antipathy of their enemies. Assyria was God’s tool and rod of discipline to awaken a sleeping nation. 

So often we can be Israel in Isaiah’s day. We can be asleep to the true reality of our spiritual condition. And like Israel we may need a new enemy or at least one raised up and in our face in order to seek God once again. Perhaps that is what is happening in America as secularism is not only rising, it seems to be winning in the culture battle AGAINST God’s people. 

God asks repeatedly in this text: “Who has done all this?” And the refrain in verse 4, “I, the LORD”… and then the descriptor: ‘The first and the last.” Wow. Not only was Israel told to understand God was behind all the international intrigue of their day, but He was the beginning and end of all things!

No matter what you’re experiencing personally, remember that if you are in Christ, God is behind it not to destroy you but to discipline and develop you. Maybe He’s doing it to silence you or to stir you awake. The good news, He is at work for you!

What stops you from believing that? Perhaps the evil you’re facing? Or the evil you’re struggling to control within you? Perhaps the record in your past or the fear in your future. But Israel had all those very things to contend with and YET God was reminding them He was still in charge. 

There’s another option to trusting God and many in Isaiah’s day were taking it. That is idolatry. Isaiah records that some grew more firm in their idolatrous commitment. 

Isaiah 41:7 (ESV) The craftsman strengthens the goldsmith, and he who smooths with the hammer him who strikes the anvil, saying of the soldering, “It is good”; and they strengthen it with nails so that it cannot be moved. 

But God reassured those who looked to Him even when things seemed so overwhelming. 

Isaiah 41:8–10 (ESV) But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham, my friend; 9  you whom I took from the ends of the earth, and called from its farthest corners, saying to you, “You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off”; 10  fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. 

There are a few key things to understand here in terms of what it means to look to God when all around you seems to be bad news. God calls Israel, “my servant”. We must know that is what we are in order to seek God. The question is not, “What are you doing God?” The question is, “What are you asking me to do?” We must also see ourselves as chosen people - that is - people brought into fellowship by His doing and not our own. We must know that those God chooses are never without Him. He is our help and He holds us up. 

In other words, to be transformed through the trials around us we must embrace God’s plan and calling upon us. He is in charge of our end and He stays with us through it.