Isaiah 57:1-13 Empty Hope
More and more people of Israel are seeking after false gods that are only empty hope. These gods have NO power to save. The righteous find safety in Him.
The first two verses of our reading bring to mind the rapture. God’s people will be taken away from calamity. And the world will be confused as to what happened to them. There will be wild theories and finally a collective shrug and forgetting; for those whose hearts do not fear him. Those who have heard of Him and understand what has happened, it will be a rude awakening and a time of repentance.
This may not be exactly what Isaiah is speaking about but it fits. My bible helps says this section is referring to the decreasing number of people who serve the Lord and that death for the righteous is a gift. They won’t have to deal with the judgment that is coming. This too is true as those who die in this world live with Him in the next. They face no more danger or calamity.
Both in Isaiah’s time and in ours, those who look to any other ‘source’ are fooling themselves. It doesn’t matter how complex, elaborate, simple, or trusted these sources are, they are useless! They are worse than useless. They are dangerous because people fool themselves into thinking they hold some power.
Confucius, Buddha, Maui, Vudu, all are full of false hope. None of these have a living savior. Their ‘inventers’ are dead. Cosmic dust and all. Another equally futile ‘savior’ is money. Man stores it up expecting it to save his life. He puts his trust in it to secure his future. But at the slightest turn it is gone. Dried up as surely as a blackberry in the end of summer. It does nothing for him after he leaves this earth. And it makes him a target of thieves as long as he holds it.
Yes, money is important in this life. It is a tool; nothing more. We trade it for what we need but it has NO power on its own. No matter how big your stack is, if no one needs it, it’s useless. And it takes more and more every day to purchase what you did yesterday. No amount seems to satisfy those who trust their lives to it.
I don’t know why this came to my mind but I’m going to share it. Another thing people are trusting in is their children. More and more, they pour EVERYTHING into them in order to enable them to be their everlasting legacy. They live through their children. Our children are their own people. They can honor us as their parents but they cannot give us immortality. They cannot save us from our own mistakes or death.
Love them. Invest in them by giving them room to become their own person. And teach them where REAL salvation lies. Introduce them to God and encourage their development of a relationship with Him. THAT is the BEST legacy you can leave. When they struggle with that relationship, be their model. Show them your steadfast faith and PRAY for them without ceasing. They are NEVER too far away that God can’t reach them.
Father God, THANK YOU for my parents who modeled a relationship with You in my sight. They struggled with life but they NEVER lost their trust in You. Their steadfast love for You birthed in me a desire for that same kind of love. Even when they had times they were ‘taking a break’ from going to church, they still maintained their love for You. THANK YOU for creating their desire for relationship so they could pass it on to me.
I pray again for my children Lord. I tried to model our relationship in their seeing but they have all chosen to wander for a bit instead. I KNOW they have seen Your hand at work in all our lives. They even admit to recognizing it at times. My desire for them is to KNOW You with their whole heart. To put their trust in YOU and NO OTHER PLACE. You are their ONLY hope for salvation, whether they admit it or not.
THANK YOU for being my salvation Lord Jesus! NOTHING else holds this place in my life. Thank You for giving me the tools I need for my earthly life. Let me NEVER put my trust in them as my hope. Even if EVERY ‘tool’ were to dry up and blow away, I would STILL be safe in Your arms. Thank You for allowing me to share what You have given me with those in need. That is my blessing and my way of saying Thank You to You.
