So, I’ve been studying Precept: Isaiah for about 4 months now. The official title of the series is Precept Upon Precept, but it often seems more like Revelation Upon Revelation. I guess they can’t name the study that as people would be confused about which book was actually being precept-ed (yes, I just made that a verb)… But, truly, that is how it seems. In a book that reflects the construction of the bible itself, there is much to be gleaned, much to be applied, and, as I learned pretty quickly, much I don’t understand. Perhaps it wasn’t the most prudent choice to start my precept-ing journey here, but hey, it’s all or nothing, right?
It honestly shocks me that I am four months in sans blog entry, but Precept: Isaiah is intense… It’s all one can do to actually finish the days in a timely manner. So, in reflecting on Israel, and their life as the chosen nation, it’s hard to understand from a reader’s perspective why they struggled so much, for so long, so blantantly. I think sometimes I read Isaiah and plop myself in the reader pool or judgment rather than the reader pool of mercy. It’s easy to pick on Israel. It’s easy to see their waywardness. It’s frustrating to try to understand their perpetual back-turning and obsession with idols… Until you realize it’s you that you’re reading about, clutching an idol in one hand, thumbing through the journey of the chosen people with the other.
Anxiety riddled these people. Anxiety caused them to carve idols out of wood, to panic in times of question, and to look all around them for self-made solutions when God had promised one in waiting all along. Which brings us to the tenth verse in chapter 41: “Do not look anxiously about you, for I am your God.”
Scrambling. The act of hurrying about, picking up the pieces of normal, and rushing to plug the holes of discontent, unmet expectations, imperfections, worry, and trials in our life. This is the story of the chosen people. They scrambled all the time. And so do we. When we anxiously look about, what are we even looking for? A way to stop the flood? A timeline for the return to normal? Just as God has brought trial, difficulty, imperfection, etc. to our life, so too will He bring about solution. God does not prepare a trial without preparing a specific end tailored to the needs in our life.
I’ve learned a lot from the wayward kings and their imitating followers. There are things I control and things I clearly don’t. When trial makes its appearance in my life, I have choices. I can look around and scramble for my idol. Or, I can pause, remember God’s word to His people, and look to Christ. I’ve thought this for a while, but if there is one thing I want to try to learn from the chosen people, it’s how to learn these lessons by study and not by experience. Isaiah affords us a chance to do that so that we are not relegated to a life of anxiety clutching lies in our right hands.
