SOAP 07/11/2014; Isaiah 8:11-14

Today's reading: Isaiah 8, 9, 10; Hebrews 8

S) "¹¹ For thus the Lord spoke to me with mighty power and instructed me not to walk in the way of this people, saying,

^12 'You are not to say, "It is a conspiracy!"
In regard to all that this people call a conspiracy,
And you are not to fear what they fear or be in dread of it.
^13 'It is the Lord of hosts whom you should regard as holy.
And He shall be your fear,
And He shall be your dread.
^14 'Then He shall become a sanctuary;
But to both the houses of Israel, a stone to strike and a rock to stumble over,
And a snare and a trap for the inhabitants of Jerusalem.'"

Isaiah 8:11-14 (NASB)

O) Isaiah was told point-blank to be counter-culture. This was written shortly before Assyria was to conquer the Kingdom of Israel. False prophecies and foolish counsel would run wild, so Isaiah is told to be wary of what the people would be saying. At the root of the point, is that trusting in God fully, is mutually exclusive, to fearing anything or anyone else. In fact, our fear of others is in direct, converse proportion to our trust in God. As it is explained in vv. 13-14, by fearing only the LORD, we are assured that He is a sanctuary to us, instead of a stumbling block or snare.

A) There is a lot to digest and apply here. I think the main focus for me, though, is the correlation between fear and trust of the LORD. That doesn't seem to make sense on the surface. Like, why would fearing Him mean I also trust Him more? But, the underlying statement here, is almost that I will fear. I don't think anyone who knows me would describe me as a fearful person, but maybe that's just because my fears are so intangible. Maybe I've had a hard time recognizing my fears. Maybe we all have fears, constantly, and some are just harder to identify. I need to make a prayerful effort to learn what I do fear, and surrender it to God. I need to replace those fears of "other" with a fear of the LORD, so that I can more fully trust Him, and He can be my sanctuary among a people full of outside fears and conspiracies.

P) Father, thank You for continuing to change me. I see grace in virtually every part of my life. In truth, open my eyes to see it in literally every part, because I acknowledge that it must be there and I just need to recognize Your grace better. Please continue to reveal the truth of my heart's condition, Lord. Show me what I actually fear. I have come to learn some of those fears more clearly, but as You continue to enlighten me to them, help me to surrender them to You. I want to fully trust You, which means to only fear You. Please be a sanctuary to me, amidst the chaos and fear that my culture exhibits. In Jesus's name I pray, amen.