With the political arena as hot as it is during this election year, and with the unreasonable fear propagated by the talk shows and political pundits, this chapter from Isaiah really has something to say to us!
You will remember from chapter 7 that Samaria and Israel were plotting against the southern kingdom of Judah, which left the king and his people “like trees shaking in a storm!” (7:2) Isaiah’s message was that before a child could be born and be old enough to know good from evil, God would have used Assyria to erase the kingdoms of Samaria and Israel—so don’t worry!
The first four verses of chapter 8 deal with the birth of this child, Isaiah’s son Maher-shalal-hash-baz. So everything is just as God said it would be! Trust Him to be in control.
But not everyone believes God is in control!
In verse 11, the prophet receives a warning from God that he “should not think like everyone else!” You may want to put the next verses on your TV screen for the next few weeks:
“Don’t call everything a conspiracy, like they do, and don’t live in dread of what frightens them.
Which conspiracy are you afraid of? Are you afraid of the left-wingers creating a social welfare state, bankrupting the country, led by a closet-Muslim president who isn’t really a citizen of the United States?
Or are you afraid of right-wing tea cuppers who want every citizen armed to the teeth, led by someone who believes the American Indians are descendents of the lost tribes of Israel, therefore the U.S. should obliterate Iran before it gets a nuclear weapon and blows up the world!
Which conspiracy keeps you awake at night?
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.
It’s not even ironical that Isaiah follows this exhortation with a prophecy that both Israel and Judah will stumble—because as a people, they will not trust the Lord. Instead they would turn to palm readers and go to séances to consult the dead, saying, “With their whisperings and mutterings, they will tell us what to do”(v.19)
“But shouldn’t people ask God for guidance? Should the living seek guidance from the dead?” (v.20)
Or as Isaiah might have said it today, “Should people who believe in God seek guidance from CNN or Fox?”
Here are the choices the prophet gave to his audience—and they are still ours today: Either “Look to God’s instructions and teachings,” or, “contradict His Word.”
Those who choose the latter will be in the dark, so they will first experience an emptiness, a hunger, that makes them angry, so angry that they rage against their government—and their God—for not being there for them!
“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.”
If you despair about the coming election, or the state of the world; if you find yourself drawn to conspiracy theories or horoscopes; if you have a hunger that you can’t seem to fill, or a rage that you can’t seem to quench . . . Isaiah has a word for you:
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. 14He will keep you safe.
Just say, as Isaiah said, “I will wait for the Lord. . . I will put my trust in Him.”
Now that puts this election into a whole different light, doesn’t it!
Mark's Blog 
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