I just finished reading Isaiah 9-10 and Exodus 22-24.
As I read through Isaiah today, I had a little spiritual epiphany. So far what I have read in Isaiah foretells God’s punishment of the Israelites for their turning away from him by sending the Assyrians to conquer them. In reading through the Old Testament, our first impressions are often that God is one mean Universe-creating dude. However, I think if you look at the purpose behind his actions you see that he truly is a God of love that desires the best for his people. By tearing down all of the wealth that the Israelites worshiped instead of him, God showed the Israelites that they were nothing without him. Even this at first may seem selfish of God. It sounds almost like God is a kid who doesn’t feel like they are getting enough attention from their parents, so they destroy something to get that attention (sounds like…not saying this is the truth). The truth is that God’s ultimate purpose ever since our fall has been to save us such that we are able to have eternal and abundant life with him after a brief stay here on earth. As human beings, we tend to be predominantly focused on the here and now, the seen versus the unseen. We want a better job so that we can make more money so that we can buy more stuff because stuff is what makes us happy. God is infinitely wiser than we are and does whatever it takes to remind us that this life is only temporary. By taking away all of our temporary treasures on earth, God forces our focus back towards our eternal treasures in heaven. It may be hard to see in the midst of the storm, but God always has our best interests in mind. We can see this in the story of the Israelites in Isaiah 10:20 (ESV)…
In that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean on him who struck them, but will lean on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.
Not to leave Exodus without a little love, a thought jumped into my head when I read through Exodus 23:29-30 (ESV)…
I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you. Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land.
This verse is speaking of God’s promise to the Israelites that he will give them the promised land of Canaan. The verses struck me because God states that he will deliberately make their conquest over the people of the land a slow process. His purpose behind this is so that the Israelites do not enter the land before they are of sufficient numbers to maintain it. Managing land is a lot of work. It takes manpower to plant crops and manage herds and then more manpower to fend off wascally wabbits and big bad wolves that want to eat your crops and herds. Growing babies doesn’t happen overnight, so the Israelites needed time to increase their numbers. I often get frustrated with God because I don’t like the timeline of his plans. I want things to happen NOW. I want my D.V.M. degree NOW, I want my future wife to knock on my door NOW (in reality God may want me to be a lifetime bachelor…who knows), and I want him to reveal all of the plans he has for me RIGHT NOW. I’ve undertaken many endeavors in my life that I had convinced myself I was ready for, only to end up having them kick my bootah. God’s timing is perfect. He knows exactly when we are ready for the plans he has for us and will reveal them to us at just the right time.
It’d be awesome if I could tell you the knock I just received at my door was the “girl of my dreams”, but nonetheless it was the Comcast guy.