When the World Fears, Trust God

11 The Lord has given me a strong warning not to think like everyone else does. He said,

12 “Don’t call everything a conspiracy, like they do,
and don’t live in dread of what frightens them.
13 Make the Lord of Heaven’s Armies holy in your life.
He is the one you should fear.
He is the one who should make you tremble.
14 He will keep you safe.
But to Israel and Judah
he will be a stone that makes people stumble,
a rock that makes them fall.
And for the people of Jerusalem
he will be a trap and a snare.
15 Many will stumble and fall,
never to rise again.
They will be snared and captured.”

16 Preserve the teaching of God;
entrust his instructions to those who follow me.
17 I will wait for the Lord,
who has turned away from the descendants of Jacob.
I will put my hope in him. 
- Isaiah 8

I remember a funny Japanese prank show I saw in YouTube. So the set-up was like this. A group of men would walk alongside an unsuspecting person just like normal. Then suddenly, on cue, the men who are in with the prank would suddenly appear scared as if they saw something dreadful on the way, and they would start running on the opposite side. What’s funny is that even the person who’s being pranked adapts this fear that the prank crowd has staged and started running on the opposite side as well.

Has it ever happened to you? No, not having been pranked, but having your attitude influenced by other people’s attitude or feelings. Have you done something you know the Lord doesn’t approve, but for the sake of the majority you do it anyway? Israel experienced that same thing. When bigger powers threatened their existence as a nation, instead of trusting God who made a covenant relationship to be His people, Israel chose to make an alliance with other nations who can protect them. An alliance with the King of the universe discarded for an alliance with a foreign king. The Lord gave Isaiah “a strong warning” not to live as the world lives (8.11). This warning is also given to us living believers living among the world:

(1) Don’t think like everyone else does (8.11) – We are called not to “conform any longer to the pattern of this world …” When we received Jesus Christ, the thoughts we think and the ways we do that do not honor God we do not do anymore. Paul urges us to seek God’s will for our life by, “the renewing of our mind …” (Rom 12:2).

(2) Don’t dismiss my instruction (they call a conspiracy) like others do (8.12). – A soldier must obey the captain’s instruction to the last detail. As soldiers of Christ we are to treat His Word as His instruction, seeking everything in our power to obey His commands so that bring honor to Him. “No soldier when in service gets entangled with the enterprises of [civilian] life; his aim is to satisfy and please the one who enlisted him (2 Ti 2:4).

(3) Don’t fear the things that frighten them (8.12). – And since the ultimate answer to our need is in and through Christ, we must let ourselves be threatened by the things the world fears about. Jesus said, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 8:33). We may not be immune from calamities and the uncertainty of the future, but through Christ we can have a “peace that surpasses all understanding.”

After laying these warnings down, the Lord directs us to the rightful recipient of our fear—Himself. “Make the Lord holy in your life. He is the one you should fear …” (8.13). This kind of fear is not worldly fear that should drive us away and hide from God. To fear God is to do everything in our means to please and bring honor to Him. To please and honor HIm so that we may live at peace with Him. That’s why the Lord’s charge to Isaiah was to make God “holy” in his life. God is to be holy, sacred and not to be taken for granted. A holy God cannot tolerate the sin of His children, therefore we must repent. His place in our lives should always be first, our actions compelled by a holy passion to bring glory to Him.

The Lord never falls away from His promise. He doesn’t fulfill His promises like a man who would give the bare minimum. He fulfills His promises extravagantly. And when He says that we can trust Him that “He will keep [us] safe” (8.14) in the midst of uncertainty, we can trust Him for every single word of it. The world cannot understand this peace that the Lord gives (8.14-15), but for the children of God, putting our trust in Him is the safest place to be.

So choose the narrow path. When the world fears, trust God to bring you through and make you overcome. Instead of being influenced by the thoughts and ways of the world, teach others to trust God also (8.16). Wait patiently and steadfastly (8.17). Wait in worship. Trust God and He will keep you safe.