Dwell in the Word: Isaiah 31:1-9

Consider these questions as you dwell in Isaiah 31:1-9:

1. How does the passage emphasize the folly of placing trust in human strength and idolatry rather than in God, and what consequences does it highlight for those who do so?

2. What imagery does Isaiah use to convey God's protective and watchful nature over His people, and why is it significant in the context of their reliance on Egypt and idols?

3. How does the passage call the children of Israel to repent and return to the Lord, and what characteristics of God are emphasized as reasons for their return?

Transcript:

What we see here in Isaiah 31 is a return to this idea that the people of Israel are going down to Egypt to find safety and to find strength. They're putting their hope in men. They're putting their hope in chariots and horses and armies instead of trusting in God, the one who has declared that he is in covenant with them, that has proven himself to be faithful to his people. Remember, these people who are doing this, they know their history. They know that God has had their back and they're going to Egypt, the place that they were leaving from. That there's an interesting thing to consider there, right? That they're suddenly putting their hope in Egypt when in the past the people of God had done the right thing and put their trust in God and deserted Egypt. We see here in verse 1 that they're really hoping for this military safety. Their problem is a military one. These other armies are coming in and overtaking them. They want to have a better military. Now, that's natural. You can see why they would do it. But God is proclaiming this word to him that he is the one that they need to trust in.

But again, we see here, verse 1, Woe to those that go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses. This is not that they're saying, Here, horse. It's not like they think Mr. Ed is there to give them wisdom. This is army strength. We see that where it says, Those who trust in chariots because there are many, and horsemen because they are very strong, but do not look to the holy one of Israel or consult the Lord. Now, notice the contrast here. You can trust in a horse, in a chariot, or in the person who's riding that horse, but you can't trust in God? You can't do what you've been called to do by the Almighty? They are putting their hope in the wrong things. We see as this passage continues that ultimately God is going to be the one who's going to deliver them. Even in the midst of their lack of faithfulness, God is going to be the one who is going to protect them. And we get some strong imagery here from Isaiah, as he proclaims the word of the Lord. Verse five, like birds hovering so the Lord of hosts will protect Jerusalem, God is watching over them.

Now, birds are not necessarily animals that would protect. The idea of the imagery here is that God is circling and hovering above them. He is watching over them. And so he will protect and deliver them. He will spare and rescue them. God is going to be the one who is going to do this. Don't go to Egypt. Don't go to their horses. Don't go to their horsemen or trust in the fact that they have more chariots than the people who are attacking you. Instead, think of this one who is always looking over you. And we see here, verse 6, Turn to him from whom people have deeply revolted, O children of Israel. Everyone else has turned away. Even some of your people have turned away, but you're the children of Israel. Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful. Slow to anger and abounding and steadfast love. That's the idea that we get here. Go to the one who has claimed you. Go to the one who has brought you out of these things before. And so what does Isaiah say? We see something that he has said before, For in that day, everyone shall cast his idols of silver and his idol of silver and his idol of gold, which your hands have sinfully made for you, he's calling them away from their idolatry.

And so, what do we see here? These people have gone after literally everything except turning to God. We can understand that maybe they would find some peace and comfort in the armies of Egypt, in the chariots that they have, and maybe even the military wisdom of the horsemen and their power. But we can't understand why they would turn to idol's of silver and gold because, again, you love this imagery. I love it when it comes to scripture. You've made these things with your own hands. Why would you put your trust in that when you have the Lord Almighty, the one who is able to hover over you that sees everything? Why would you turn to this? You need to throw those out. You need to trust in God. You've tried everything else. Go to Him, return to the Lord, your God. This is an important reminder for us. While it's easy for us to look down on these people who would have gone to Egypt and had their own idols, I believe you and I often do the same thing. We find that the last thing that we do is we turn to God when there are times of difficulty.

It's important that we turn aside our desire to have power help us or to have human wisdom help us, or that the things that we hold tightly, the things that we can control, those probably are our idol, right? We need to turn those things away. We need to throw them away. We need to turn aside from them. And we need to trust that God is able to do these things. And we know that He is able because He has saved us and He has given us the indwelled Holy Spirit. And so we need to stop with our idolatry and stop with our trust in things other than God, and we need to turn to Him. And so may we find opportunities to remember today how God has saved us in Christ. And may we not turn towards other things, but instead, may we continue to follow Him because He is the one that has bought us. We are God's children because of what Jesus has done. So instead of following after people, may we follow after the one who is able to save and has saved us in Jesus Christ.