Waiting and Trusting in 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.

18 I and the children the Lord has given me serve as signs and warnings to Israel from the Lord of Heaven’s Armies who dwells in his Temple on Mount Zion.

19 Someone may say to you, “Let’s ask the mediums and those who consult the spirits of the dead. With their whisperings and mutterings, they will tell us what to do.” But shouldn’t people ask God for guidance? Should the living seek guidance from the dead?

20 Look to God’s instructions and teachings! People who contradict his word are completely in the dark. 21 They will go from one place to another, weary and hungry. And because they are hungry, they will rage and curse their king and their God. They will look up to heaven 22 and down at the earth, but wherever they look, there will be trouble and anguish and dark despair. They will be thrown out into the darkness.

Do you have moments when you struggle with uncertainty and doubt? Do you put some people on a spiritual pedestal, thinking they are beyond such struggles? If so, then be encouraged by this passage. God comes to Isaiah to assure him in the midst of his own uncertainties. Conspiracy theories in Isaiah’s day abounded—and they still do today. Fear grew like a tumor in the soul of society, and it was affecting Isaiah too.

But Isaiah received firm instructions from God not to be influenced by Ahaz or the unbelieving strategy of Judah. Isaiah was to trust the Lord, who was gradually fulfilling his plan for the coming of Immanuel. The Lord was the one whom Isaiah should fear.

What fuels our doubts? In verses 14-15 Immanuel is described as a rock that would cause the people to stumble. There is something scandalous about the Messiah. The nature of that scandal becomes clear in Jesus’ ministry, where we meet the one who fulfills God’s purposes not as a mighty warrior but as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

What do we do when the world is in a panic? Isaiah said, “I will wait for the LORD, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob.” Patient, faith-filled, grace-empowered waiting on God is one of the most active ways we can show obedience to our Savior.

Lord, we’re often fearful and full of doubt when we see so much turbulence around us. Help us to wait in patient obedience, knowing that you are in control. In Jesus, Amen.