September 28-October 4

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Isaiah 41 has a couple of different messages from the Lord to Israel, but there is one in particular that I want to focus on. In order to do that, I want to squish a couple of verses together. 

Isaiah 41:1 Keep silence before me, O islands; and let the people renew their strength: let them come near; then let them speak: let us come near together to judgment.

The Lord is telling the pagans to remain quiet. He is calling upon His own people to come to Him, renew their strength, and come together to judge. Rather than declaring His role as Ultimate Judge, this verse is inviting Israel to come discern with Him. He wants to work with Israel and help them see more clearly. 

As the chapter continues on past this verse, the Lord says that He will take care of Israel. He won’t forsake them. He will uphold them and nurture them, and He wants Israel to recognize Him as their Savior. Then He calls upon the pagan idols to defend themselves. Perhaps this is what the Lord wants Israel to judge.

Isaiah 41:21-23

21 Produce your cause, saith the Lord; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob.

22 Let them bring them forth, and shew us what shall happen: let them shew the former things, what they be, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things for to come.

23 Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together. 

He is telling the idols to prove themselves. He wants the idols to prophecy or explain things that have already happened.

When I picture these verses together, I picture the Lord setting His people down beside Him. He is telling His people, “Come and make a judgment call with me. Come see what you think.” Then He turns to the silent idols that have been created by mankind and asks them to prove themselves. He wants to see if those idols can do what He can, namely prophecy of things to come or explain history. He mockingly tells the idols to prove that they are gods so that He and His people can be dismayed and see things clearly, that the idols are worthless.

One of God’s great gifts is the ability to discern. He can look at a person or thing and recognize the value or lack of value therein. 

We came here to become like Him which means developing the ability to discern. In this chapter, the Lord is calling upon His people to come and discern with Him. Surely there have been times where the Lord has been like, “Israel! What are you doing?! These idols are so worthless!” But in this particular instance, He is calling upon Israel to come and sit with Him so they can all discern together. 

If Israel were to truly come to the table and work with the Lord, I’m sure they would come to the same conclusion as Him. It’s an effective way of teaching, and it is often the kind of teaching the Lord operates under when it comes to the Plan of Salvation. 

He gives us an opportunity to judge for ourselves. He sent us here to earth to learn the good from the bad and learn to recognize the difference. He lets us stumble and fall so we can (hopefully) develop good judgment. When Israel turned to idols, He allowed them to be smitten by their enemies so they wouldn’t wrongfully attribute their protection to those idols. 

This strategy has caused Him a lot of pain. It means that we will make mistakes that the Lord has to pay for. It means that we will hurt ourselves and others, and though He has an eternal perspective, it can hurt to watch your children hurt. It means that He has to watch us choose others over Him despite His undying loyalty and payment. It means that despite His eternal, omnipotent life being centered on us and our well-being, He often gets called the bad guy.

He allows us to choose so that we can truly learn despite all that it costs Him.

How often do we emulate that when we’re called to be an example or teach our loved ones?

Lately, I’ve gotten over being a constant referee to my kids. When I solve one problem for them, they come to me for every problem. It’s ineffective and inefficient. They want me to solve everything. It eats away at all of my time, and they are never quite satisfied with my choices in disciplining their siblings who have treated them wrong. They also don’t learn to solve their own problems. 

So I’ve switched tactics. Like the Lord, I want my kids to mature and be able to choose well in the situations they’re given. As they grow older, they’re going to find themselves in situations where other people don’t treat them well. Will they be prepared to face those situations if I’m solving everything at home?

Maybe I’m crazy for approaching things this way, but constantly breaking up fights wasn’t working before so I’ve switched tactics. I’ll let you know later if my methods result in my kids going to jail or becoming peacemakers. Anyway, my new method involves letting them learn the hard way, and I allow them to fight for a while. I obviously don’t let it escalate too badly, but I don’t stop things immediately anymore. I try to ignore the pressure to directly respond to every bad choice my kids make.

We often think of idols as the things that Israelites worshiped, or we think of money or power. However, idols can be something as simple as anger. Humans will resort to anger in hopes that it will protect them, comfort them, and fix their problems. Humans turn anger into their ineffective savior, their idol. 

So now instead of stopping the situation and removing the option of anger, I give them an opportunity to see that anger is a pathetic idol. Did their anger work? Are they feeling happy now? The answer is never yes. 

This principle, this idea of looking at the idols in your life and judging whether they work, is a powerful one. There are many directions I could have chosen for this principle, and there are many ways that you can apply this principle. Are there idols in your life that could use some discerning? Are you removing opportunities for your loved ones to discern their own idols? Have you helped them walk through the process of discerning their idols instead of immediately condemning them?

I testify that agency is a gift. It’s an essential gift that can be used as a powerful tool for growth. I testify that the Lord works hard to protect that agency because He knows that constantly telling us isn’t nearly as effective as learning the truth for ourselves. I testify that He is wise and that idols are pathetic compared to Him and the happiness He has to offer.