Isaiah
47:10-11 (ESV)
You
felt secure in your wickedness,
you
said, “No one sees me”;
your
wisdom and your knowledge led you astray,
and
you said in your heart,
“I
am, and there is no one besides me.”
which you will not know how
to charm away;
disaster
shall fall upon you,
for
which you will not be able to atone;
and
ruin shall come upon you suddenly,
of
which you know nothing.
God
said in earlier chapters of Isaiah that he would use Babylon to discipline his
people. Because they will see Israel fall, the Babylonians will feel secure.
They will assume that their gods are superior and that they are therefore safe.
But all that will come crashing down around them. Their faith is misplaced and
Israel is still under God’s watchful care.
How
often we look at our immediate circumstances and make assumptions. Life feels
out of control, so we conclude that it is out of control. Life feels good, so
we conclude that there are no threats. Babylon fell in a night to Persia while
they were partying because they felt secure. Fortunes have been lost overnight.
Seemingly healthy people have dropped dead in their tracks. Misplaced faith is
pointless.
Robert
Burns poem To A Mouse has the
following lines toward the end of the poem:
The
best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men,
Gang
aft agley, (go oft awry)
An'
lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For
promis'd joy![1]
The
poem reminds us that things do not always turn out the way we plan. Our plans
promise joy, but often leave us with grief and pain.
Isaiah
says that this is a lesson the Babylonians would soon learn. The gods of this
world, for all their promise, will fail their followers. Our only hope is found
in the Lord of Heaven and Earth. For the believer, “Weeping may tarry for the
night, but joy comes with the morning” (Ps 30:5). For the followers of other
gods, “You feel secure in your wickedness…. But evil shall come upon you,
which you will not know how to charm away” (Is 47:10-11).
That
raises the question: What gods are you trusting today? Where is your hope? Ponder
the chorus of the old hymn my Helen H. Lemmel.
Turn
your eyes upon Jesus,
Look
full in His wonderful face,
And
the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In
the light of His glory and grace.
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