Isaiah 50

Isaiah 50:10-11 NIV

Who among you fears the Lord
and obeys the word of his servant?
Let the one who walks in the dark,
who has no light,
trust in the name of the Lord
and rely on their God. But now, all you who light fires
and provide yourselves with flaming torches,
go, walk in the light of your fires
and of the torches you have set ablaze.
This is what you shall receive from my hand:
You will lie down in torment.

As a people, Israel had not listened to her God. In contrast, the prophet, though listening to God, has been rejected and abused by Israel. This chapter then ends with the challenge of the verses quoted above. If you are walking in darkness, as the prophet is, trust in the name of the Lord and rely on God. But what do we do? We try to light our own fires. We try to produce our own light when God's light isn't visible. We seek our own answers and solutions. The result? Darkness. "You will lie down in torment."  Darkness in the hands of God is always better than our own imitation light which leads to darkness with no hope.

Following God, walking with God, is a walk of faith. Why is it that we consistently seem to think that we somehow need to come up with our own solutions? That didn't work for Samson. It didn't work for King Saul. It didn't work for the people of Israel. Yet, we seem to naturally default to second class solutions because we're not willing to trust God in the dark.

Father, forgive me for my lack of faith. In the next dark valley, through which you call me to walk, may I trust your faithful hand to guide me rather than trying to come up with my own torch.

By His grace,
Rick Weinert