Running off to Egypt
Isaiah 30: Quit hounding us with The Holy of Israel.
As the small nation of Israel realizes just how precarious their place is on the world stage they seek an alliance with a world power, turning to Egypt to be their protector. Meanwhile, God’s prophets keep pounding away at them, calling on them to trust God and live the way he wants them to live. Their desire to find a protector among the nations seems reasonable, but they have a higher calling. However, Israel won’t listen. Those who speak for God are called irrelevant and impractical. To them, religion has its place but not when there are “real” enemies with which to deal. Their response to Isaiah is, “leave us alone while we deal with these practical issues and quit hounding us with God-talk.” Since I believe God is very much involved in every aspect of my life; that he directs me and walks with me every day and in every situation, passages like this are of only historical value to me — right? You know the answer. When something goes wrong, when someone says or does the wrong thing to me, when I have a problem, my first response is to head for Egypt for reinforcements. My actions say, “Don’t bother me with God-talk right now — I’ve got a ‘real’ problem to solve. Once that’s taken care of I’ll see you in church next Sunday.” I know it’s possible to over-state things here because I believe God gave me a brain and he expects me to use it. His plan for my life isn’t for me to sit idly by and wait for him to come to my rescue all the time. Still, the reminder here is that the Lord wants to be connected to my life and he wants me to see all I do as a part of my walk with him; not just the so-called “religious” stuff.
Take Away: The Lord calls us to live in a real relationship with him – every day, in every situation.