Isaiah: Relying on God

Isaiah 50

“I feel like God is distant.” I have heard that statement many times. I have often had that feeling as well. Someone added this twist: “If you feel distant from God, guess who moved!” In today’s passage, we are reminded of the reason why Judah felt distant from God. 

In response to Judah’s feeling of abandonment, God responds:

Isaiah 50:1
Thus says the Lord: “Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce, with which I sent her away? Or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities you were sold, and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.” 

Judah complained that God was nowhere to be found (Isa. 49:14), so God reminded them who had moved! God likened his discipline to divorce papers or being sold as a servant to pay off a debt. Judah’s continued rebellion, despite God’s warnings, brought about the discipline they were experiencing in captivity.

Our distancing from God is brought on by our sin. Maybe it is a blatant, ongoing sin. Maybe it is simply spiritual lethargy that leaves us feeling spiritually dull and stuck. The hard news, but good news, is that God loves us too much to let us stray and remain stranded. He acts on our behalf… to bring us back home.

If we think we are too far away for God’s help, Isaiah reminds us that God is always more than able to deliver us when we turn to him. God poses the rhetorical question, “Is my hand shortened, that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver?” (Isa. 50:2a). He is the One who freed Israel from Egypt (Isa. 50:2b). Certainly, he can rescue them again.

Judah will be delivered when Cyrus establishes the Persian Empire and sends the captives home. That will be a great day! But a better day is coming. The Servant (the coming Messiah) is on the way. Judah suffered for their disobedience. Likewise, in obedience to the Father, the Servant will suffer on our behalf.

Isaiah 50:4-9 is the third of four “Servant Songs” (Isa. 42:1-9; 49:1-13; 50:4-9; 52:13-53:12). The Servant addresses God as the Sovereign One who gave him the powerful words to say and opened his ear to hear and be responsive to God’s Word (Isa. 50:4-5, 7, 9).

Remember…obedience was costly for the Servant.

Isaiah 50:6
I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting. 

This passage foretells the abuse that Jesus suffered during the events leading up to his crucifixion. The Gospels detail the physical and emotional pain Jesus endured (Matthew 27:27-32; Mark 15:16-20; Luke 22:63-65; 23:11, 35-38; John 19:1-3). 

• The religious leaders and soldiers spat on Jesus.
• They blindfolded him and mockingly told him to “prophesy” who hit him.
• They beat him with hard blows.
• They flogged him.
• They jammed a crown of thorns onto his head.
• They led him away to be crucified. 

Jesus bore the humiliation and violent mistreatment for you and me. He “set [his] face like a flint” (Isa. 50:7b), meaning he carried out the Father’s will with unwavering resolve. Furthermore, God gave him the needed help and strength:

Isaiah 50:7
But the Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame. 

Isaiah 50:9
Behold, the Lord God helps me; who will declare me guilty? Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment….

Just as the Father gave his Son everything he needed, so the Father gives those who trust in Jesus all they need as well. There are times when we feel as though we are walking in the darkness. I recently met with a man who lost his wife, and he shared how waves of grief can overcome him. A person I spoke with today on a call is experiencing unimaginable physical pain. Sometimes the days are dark, and it seems that there is no light on the way. Yet, God is always there, “…the Lord GOD helps me.” Don’t miss it! “Behold, the Lord GOD helps me.”

Isaiah 50:10 [Today’s Anchor Point]
Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the voice of his servant? Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God. 

God loved his people so much that, through Isaiah, he warned them of a future without him.

Isaiah 50:11
Behold, all you who kindle a fire, who equip yourselves with burning torches! Walk by the light of your fire, and by the torches that you have kindled! This you have from my hand: you shall lie down in torment. 

The true Light has come; however, people choose to walk in darkness. Instead of following the Light, they devise torches to guide themselves. But rejecting Jesus and walking “by the light of your fire, and by the torches that you have kindled” will lead to an eternal separation from the God who loves us so much that he sent his Son to die for our sins (Isa. 50:10). Isaiah’s warning is explicit: “You shall lie down in torment.”

Why would anyone neglect such love, so great a salvation? Why would anyone choose to walk in the darkness when they can trust in the Light? Why would anyone light their own torches when the Light of the World stands before them?

PERSONAL TIME WITH GOD
Time in the Word: Read and reflect on Isaiah 50. Reflect on our Anchor Point—Isaiah 50:10.

Talking to God: Talk to God about someone you know who continues to walk in the darkness. 

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Every day is a day of spiritual renewal as we follow hard after Jesus.