Mid-week Devotional
Conspiracy Theories
Isaiah 8:11-15
Pastor Wes
Join our Facebook page to keep in touch.
We are living in a time where it is so easy to get caught up and sucked into all the informative sources that are available through news feeds, social media, and even friends. And it’s getting harder and harder to validate any newsworthy claim- these people are saying this, and these people are saying that, and you could spend hours, days, weeks attempting to investigate and get to the bottom of every story. And even whether you attempt to get to the bottom of the story or you just read the headlines, either way you probably still feel bombarded and overwhelmed with thinking through what is true and what is false, or considering what conspiracies might actually be true, or at the very least- feeling just a little bit of an uptick in anxiety concerning all that is taking place in our world. While the channels and access to information have changed over time, people’s sentiment of fear and anxiety concerning news and political circumstances has not changed. I want us to look quickly at a passage of scripture from Isaiah chapter 8, that was written about 2500 years ago, yet it is a passage still immensely applicable to our current day and age.
During this time in which Isaiah writes, God had spoken that judgement was coming to the land of Israel. And it was just now in the beginning stages. Jerusalem had been attacked, though not completely conquered, and many people had been captured and carried off to Damascus by the king of Aram. The king of Aram had also cut off the trade route by the Red Sea. The Edomites had attacked at the southern border of Israel and carried off captives. The Philistines had also invaded in some areas of Israel and taken over many villages.
And so, it was in this atmosphere that King Ahaz of Israel was reaching out to the king of Assyria for help. And yet God was saying that Assyria wasn’t going to help. (Assyria would actually end up being the country that, rather than help Israel, they would put the final blow on the country and fully conquer Israel’s northern kingdom) God’s prophets were saying one thing, yet the political entities were saying another thing, and there was doubt and confusion, there were conspiracies and various plans being forged behind closed doors. And God was calling out to the people for them to place their trust only in Him, and not place their trust in political allies, government deals, or military forces. Listen to what the Lord says in Isaiah 8:11-15…
Here God is calling His people not to be like the people fretting over rumors, news, and secret political moves. In verse 11 He says do not walk in the way of people who are like this, who call this or that a conspiracy, or who fear and dread what is to come. But rather, verse 13, the LORD alone should be the one to fear and dread. And then if we only fear and dread the LORD, notice what the LORD then becomes to us, verse 14: “Then He shall become a sanctuary.” This is an amazing principle. In situations of great fear, anxiety, and uncertainty- situations in which one would be thinking- “I need a sanctuary”- a quiet, protected, place of rest and peace; in these situations, God is saying fear Him alone, and He will become that sanctuary. We fear Him alone- not the circumstances, not the conspiracy, not the political drama- but we fear Him. And what happens is that He takes the fear placed in Him, and completely reverses that fear, turning it into protection, rest, and peace.
But look at what happens to the rest of those who do not fear the LORD alone, those who continue to fear conspiracies and the dread of events around them. The LORD becomes not a sanctuary, but if we continue in verse 14 and into verse 15, He becomes a “stone to strike and a rock to stumble over, and a snare and a trap.” And they will stumble, fall, be broken, snared, and caught.
Church, continue to be reminded of God’s charge to His people- as seen in so many places throughout His word- His charge to place your fear in Him alone, to trust in Him alone, to place your faith in His Word alone- and He will give you rest. He loves you church, trust and rest in His love!