The king of Judah was frozen with fear and it was spreading to the people. Syria and Judah had entered a pack to take down Judah. Assyria, the world power, also was headed their way. Fears from all sides and elements hit them and it was the talk of the people. Everywhere they were talking about what was coming and fear dominated their lives and thinking.
Isaiah comes along and God, however He did it, spoke with "mighty power" and told Isaiah, "not to walk in the way of this people!" (Isa. 8:11) God was sending a message to Isaiah that you cannot and must not get carried away by the hysteria of the people and their fear. "And you are not to fear what they fear or be in dread of it. It is the Lord of hosts whom you should regard as holy. And He shall be your fear, and He shall be your dread." (Isa. 8:13) If you are going to be in dread of anyone, it is the be the Lord God, the Almighty!
We look around us and there are so many things that make us fearful today. Health issues, political issues, financial issues and it seems the list is added to daily. Wouldn't it be wonderful if there were this 100 foot person, muscles bulging, looking undefeatable coming to us and saying, "Do not fear!"? But we know God is Spirit (John 4:24). All Isaiah had was some word of the Lord and it created within him faith. God speaks telling Isaiah that those who had faith in Him heeding His voice, "He shall become a sanctuary." (Isa. 8:14) For others, the Lord would be of no aid or help.
Why do many today, who claim faith in God go so easily into a panic mode? I can see that through those faithless and have no clue about God but what about those of us who claim faith in God? I know its not hard to be carried away by some dread or fear when everyone around you is speaking in that tone. People are anxiety-driven, or depressed, or become pathetically shallow when all they pay attention to is fear and dread from some source of man. This should help us see that we as God's people should not follow the way of the populace. It's times of fear and dread that we could do some the best work for the Lord making it crystal clear that He can always be trusted!
God knows how things look and He is aware of how people react to what they feel and hear when things seem to be flying into pieces. God knows how difficult it is for His children to be easily led into paths away from Him. But that's just it, He doesn't pat us on the back telling us to continue our path. He speaks through His word to us: "Do not follow the way of this people!" Heaven rules! God rules! The question is do we believe it?
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