Isaiah 34 – 39
Verse 34:2 should break any mold about God being even tempered:
For the Eternal One is furious with all the nations. He has had it with their armies.
He has marked them for destruction, and has given them over to slaughter.
If God was, why would He get “furious”? Mankind has done what it always has done, throughout history. Rise from despair, worshiping God, then slowly move from bondage to prosperity only to get distracted and drift away. I believe every society in history will so this, be it following God or not. We gain comfort and become complacent only to lose it again. So why wouldn’t God get angry? And why haven’t we learned our lesson?
Verses 35:3 & 4 bring hope to the ones that worry:
3 So, with confidence and hope in this message,
strengthen those with feeble hands, shore up the weak-kneed and weary.
4 Tell those who worry, the anxious and fearful,
“Take strength; have courage! There’s nothing to fear.
Look, here—your God! Right here is your God!
The balance is shifting; God will right all wrongs.
None other than God will give you success.
He is coming to make you safe.”
Sure things may be rough, but have faith and don’t fret the rough spots since they are promised. Jesus never says rest in me I will satisfy all your desires and give you what you want. No He wants us to rest in Him to satisfy our desire for love and give us what we need in strength. That is the point, we need to be like Paul and have joy be it a free man with friends or in bondage for his beliefs.
Verse 39:6 sums up the real value of “stuff”:
“The time is coming when everything in your palace—everything of value kept, passed down, and stored by your ancestors to this present time—will be taken away to Babylon. Of everything that you showed this Babylonian contingent, nothing will be left. Absolutely nothing will remain here,” says the Eternal One.
When you get right down to it, what does it really matter in the long run? Nothing, absolutely nothing will change the fact that we can’t take it with us. The only thing we can rest on is glory in heaven, which if you use the crown analogy, requires a bunch of work. “Stuff” becomes a point of worship, be it a Golden Calf or a silver Porsche, we all tend to worship things over God, even the most holy of us. Focus on God, if you have the silver Porsche great, have fun and focus on God.