“Willing to accept help?”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Monday, May 2, 2022
Isaiah 30:18-21 (Forward, p. 4) CEV p. 722
In the practice of Biblical study, context is everything, and never more is it the case than with today’s passage from Isaiah. Isaiah passes on a ‘word’ from God to His people, a word that, at first glance, seems both disturbing and contradictory. On the one hand, God says that He cares and that He will quickly respond to their cries for help. But then, on the other hand, He admits that He had previously given them trouble and sorrow as their food and drink. So, how can this be?
It is here that context means everything. In the earlier verses of this chapter, God has faulted Israel in turning its back upon Him, such that they neglected to consult Him and refused to listen to what He had to say. Instead, they chose to turn to Egypt for help and relied upon what was entirely a useless resource. And, failing that, they thought that they could work their own way out of trouble, relying either upon their own strength and resources or upon equally useless idols of silver and gold to help them. No wonder they were in for trouble and sorrow. They had ‘asked for it’ in refusing to listen to God and in refusing His help.
But in our present passage, something has changed. It speaks of the Lord being their Teacher who will now guide them. It says that God will now guide them whether to the right or to the left and will direct their paths along the right way. So, obviously they have changed their minds and are now willing to accept His help. But isn’t that exactly what the Lord is always like: being a ‘gentleman’, He never thrusts Himself, or His help or advice upon anyone but always waits for us to be receptive and willing to accept it. May we, you and I, always be of that mind. Amen.
Forward notes: “Though the Lord may give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself any more, but your eyes shall see your Teacher (verse 20).
“The day after our son was born, I was fired. My wife, Nan, had already been placed on unpaid maternity leave. Every day for the next three months, we would wake and pray, ‘Lord, send us work.’ Then the phone would ring, and one of us would go to work as a temporary vet or draftsman, and the other would care for the baby.
“After three months, we were confident that all was well. Relaxing in the assurance of God’s provision, we took a week to visit friends. Then we returned and resumed praying in the morning. After a few months, an opportunity opened for me to work near Nan’s childhood home, and we moved into more defined careers.
“We must have been pegged as obstinate students for the Lord of all to reveal himself with such deliberate clarity.”
Moving Forward: “When have you put your trust in God and seen your prayers answered, day after day?”