March 8 - Signs & Symbols

March 8 - Signs & Symbols - Isaiah 8:1-22

I'd really be interested in knowing whether or not any of you heard the Lord telling you to write a name on a piece of poster board and then later, heard the Lord tell you that was the name you were to give your son. The name that Isaiah was given for his second son meant, "quick to the plunder, swift to the spoil" and was the promise that Aram and Ephraim would fall to Assyria. (Isaiah 8:1-4)

Because Israel chose to align itself with Aram rather than Judah (Jerusalem's water came from the pool of Siloam or Shiloah), Assyria was seen as the mighty floodwaters of the Euphrates. And because King Ahaz of Judah had not fully trusted the Lord, it would sweep on into Judah. Through all of that, though, men's plans would be thwarted. Why? Isaiah says, "For God is with us." (Isaiah 8:5-10)

Isaiah spent so much time with the Lord, he was able to make very personal observations. For instance, Isaiah 8:11, "The Lord spoke to me with his strong hand upon me, warning me not to follow the way of the people." When Isaiah heard these words coming from the Lord, he also felt the presence of God's hand upon him.

Do you find yourself tossed back and forth from fear to fear? Do you watch the news and react to everything you read or hear? Do you spread the fear to others? These verses in Isaiah will call you to task.

Are you better served by fearing what mankind puts before you or is your time better spent hearing from the Lord? Well, though the answer is obvious, we tend to ignore it.

"The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread, and he will be a sanctuary; but for both houses of Israel he will be a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall. And for the people of Jerusalem he will be a trap and a snare. Many of them will stumble; they will fall and be broken, they will be snared and captured." (Isaiah 8:12-15)

Jesus would be known as this stone (Luke 2:34, Rom. 9:33, 1 Peter 2:8). Those who aren't ready to trust in the Lord should definitely be ready to fall splat on their face when they trip over the stone that He has laid in front of them. When we choose to put our fear in man rather than in the Lord, we make a dreadful mistake.

Isaiah says in Isaiah 8:20-22, "If they do not speak according to this word (the law), they have no light of dawn ... then they will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness."

Will you wait for the Lord? Or will you follow all of the conspiracies, read about fear and dread in the newspapers? Will you put your trust in Him?