Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in the multitude of their chariots and in the great strength of their horsemen, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel, or seek help from the Lord .
Isaiah 31:1 NIV
This is difficult for me to write. My heart is heavy for many reasons. But I feel the need to share this with you because as I was reading this verse something parallel to the world we live in today was made very clear to me.
God was speaking to the Israelites in this verse. To His chosen Beloved people. He brought them out of slavery and out of bondage to a land flowing with milk and honey. They went from building and working and toiling as slaves to living in freedom. However, when things became difficult, when the circumstances around them were not to their liking, they looked back to Egypt and wished to be back there. When they were traveling in the desert wondering where their next meal would come from…. God provided manna for them, miraculous food from heaven. Instead of being thankful to God who provided and sustained them, after a while they forgot about the provision and looked back to Egypt and longed for the pomegranates and fruit of the land. Egypt was a land of wealth, power, fruit, strength and many false idols but the Israelites looked to it with longing forgetting they were once slaves of the land. Forgetting the freedom God had provided, and in their longing not only did they offend God, they angered Him.
If you ever heard someone say ‘back in the good old days’ and then the person generally tells about a time of life they miss or wish they could go back to. My dad always tells about how he was a great tennis player and I can’t help but notice a bit of regret in his voice, because it was a skill that he did not pursue. Perhaps he wonders what would have happened if he did pursue it. Other times people talk about the career they wish they had and how they are sick of working in the same old job with no advancement opportunities. It is easy for us to wish for something else or wonder what life could have been like if circumstances were a little different or if we had made different choices, would we be better off…The Israelites became so dissatisfied with wandering in the desert that they looked longingly back at Egypt. Although they were on a difficult path, the path was better for them because God was leading them. God had saved them and God had a plan for them.
And as much as I don’t like drama I’m going to say that many of us are doing the same thing the Israelites did.
Many people put their trust in our previous presidential leader. Many people put their faith in a judicial system and a voting system- as if it could not fail us. Many people have put their hope in a nation that has in many, many ways left the God of Israel, the God of America.
This country may have In God we trust written on our money, but as a nation, as a society and even some of us as Christians are so far from having our trust in God and instead we are looking at America for hope. We are turning to America like the Israelites turned to Egypt. We are trusting in it’s laws, in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and our assumed inalienable rights.We are turning towards and trying to find hope in a nation that is full of idols. We are turning and looking at an idealistic America instead of to God the creator of all.
????America is land of the free and home of the brave and yes, I believe was blessed by God. I am so thankful for the men and women that serve this country. The ones who served in the past and laid down their lives for our freedom, even the freedom to speak now. And also to the ones who serve currently. Thank you. I am thankful for my privilege to vote. I am thankful for my job and my home. I am thankful for my car and for grocery stores. I am thankful to live in America. ????
However, as a nation we have taken God out of our schools, out of our homes, out of our conversations, out of our actions, out of our lives. Sunday is another day of the week, another day to make money or sleep in. Sunday is not a sacred day of worship, rest and praise to God like it once was, it is simply another day in our lives.
And when the new president was elected and the old gone I saw Christian after Christian complaining and mourning the loss of this past ‘great’ president.
But you forget that your King is the Great I Am! And He wants you to turn to Him.
This is a time to Pray to your great God. This is a time to turn to Him because He alone is worthy of your praise and your cry for help. Stop looking to Egypt. Stop looking to America. God brought the Israelites out of Egypt in His great power and might. He brought them out of the place that had them trapped as slaves and yet they still looked to it in their time of need.
He brought you and me out of a life of rebellion, out of a life of sin. He paid our penalty on the cross. Why are so many Christians looking to America and a past president in our time of need and not to Our God and Savior?
A little further down in the passage God says Return, you Israelites, to the One you have so greatly revolted against.
Return you Christians, Americans to the one you so greatly revolted against.
Isaiah 30:15 This is what the Sovereign Lord , the Holy One of Israel, says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.
God says in repentance and rest is our salvation. In quietness and trust is our strength. let us not ignore this like the Israelites did, instead let us repent of our sin. Let us lift our eyes upwards towards heaven and call upon the name of the Lord. He is the only one who can hear us and He is the only one who can regenerate our hearts and this fallen nation.
Let us join together and pray as Daniel did He said:
Give ear, our God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. Lord, listen! Lord, forgive! Lord, hear and act! For your sake, my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name.”
Daniel 9:19-20
Lord your people and this nation need you today. Forgive us for not looking to you in our time of need. Forgive us for not relying on You, our King of Kings and Lord of Lords. You have had a plan from the beginning of the world and will be with us to the end of the age. Your ways are not our ways. We must trust in you. Hear us Father. Do not turn your face from us. Restore us to You.
We wait in hope for the Lord ; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love be with us, Lord , even as we put our hope in you.
Psalms 33:20?-?22
Praise God that our hope is in a Living Mighty Risen Savior. In God We Trust. ??
The Lord bless you and Keep you,
Kara
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