Inspired by Isaiah 8, this conversation between two friends highlights the truths found in trusting God and His warning.
It was a slow day at the little coffee shop in town. Cold, gray, nothing exciting outside the window. Inside, the place smelled like burnt espresso and old wood. Mark and Caleb sat at a small table near the back, both with coffee, both looking like they’d rather not go back out into real life yet.
“I was up last night reading Isaiah 8,” Marcus said, stirring his coffee. “About Isaiah’s son with the long name.”
“Ah, yes,” Sara wrapped her hands around her mug. “I tried reading it this morning before work.”
“It’s a lot. God’s basically saying that Assyria’s coming like a freight train, and it’s because Judah kept making deals instead of just trusting Him.” Marcus glanced out at the empty street. “That line about rejecting the gentle waters—I had to read it twice.”
Sara was quiet for a second. “The part that stuck with me was how God ends up being a sanctuary for some people but a stumbling block for others. Like, same God. Completely different experience.”
“How’s that supposed to work, though?” Marcus replied.
“I don’t know. I mean, I think it’s about whether you actually come to Him or just kind of… use Him when it’s convenient?” She traced the rim of her mug. “Like Judah wanted God’s protection but also wanted to do their own thing with alliances and stuff.”
Marcus laughed, but not like it was funny. “That hits a little close. I’ve been doing that with the whole job situation. Praying about it but also working every angle, making backup plans for my backup plans.”
“Is that bad though? Don’t we have to be responsible?” Sara asked.
“I guess. But there’s this line in there about not calling conspiracy what everyone else calls conspiracy, not fearing what they fear. And I’m definitely fearing what everyone else fears right now. Economy, layoffs, all of it.” Replied Marcus.
Sara was quiet for a second. “So what are we supposed to fear?”
“Just God, apparently. Which sounds easy until you actually try it.” He pushed his cup around. “My mom keeps texting me articles about a recession. My brother thinks I should just take any job I can get. And I’m sitting here asking myself, am I trusting God or just being irresponsible?”
“I don’t think Isaiah figured it all out either. He’s just like, ‘I’m gonna wait on God even though He’s hiding His face.’ That doesn’t sound like someone with all the answers.” Sara said.
“The end of that chapter’s pretty dark. People cursing God, looking around and seeing nothing but trouble.” Marcus mused.
“Yeah.” Sara looked down. “That part about seeking mediums instead of seeking God—we don’t go to psychics or whatever, but we do that same thing differently, don’t we? Like, I’ll read my horoscope. I’ll obsess over what people think. Anything but actually sitting with what God’s already said.”
“There’s no light in them.’ That’s what it says if you’re not speaking according to His word.” Marcus exhaled. “That’s harsh.”
“It is. But maybe it’s true? I mean, I’ve been in that place where I’m just angry at everyone, angry at God, looking around, and everything feels dark. And it was when I was ignoring what I knew was right.” Sara admitted.
“So what do we do with it?” Marcus asked.
Sara shrugged. “I think we just… do what Isaiah did? Bind up the testimony, wait on God, even when it doesn’t make sense. Even when He feels far away.”
“That’s not very satisfying.” Marcus sighed.
“No, it’s not.” She smiled a little. “But it’s probably the point. We want the gentle waters, we want the sanctuary part—but we don’t want actually to let Him be the only thing we fear.”
Marcus stared at his coffee. “Immanuel’s land. God with us. Even in the flood.”
“Even in the flood,” Sara repeated. “I don’t know if I believe that today, honestly. But I want to.”
“Yeah. Me too.” Marcus stated.
They sat there while the radiator hissed in the corner and someone scraped ice off their windshield outside. Neither of them said anything else for a while.
Created by Steve
God’s Word…
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Isaiah 8
The Coming Assyrian Invasion
8 Then the Lord said to me, “Take a large piece of parchment[a] and write on it with an ordinary pen:[b] Maher-shalal-hash-baz.[c] 2 I have appointed[d] trustworthy witnesses—Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberechiah.”
3 I was then intimate with the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. The Lord said to me, “Name him Maher-shalal-hash-baz, 4 for before the boy knows how to call out father or mother, the wealth of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria will be carried off to the king of Assyria.”
5 The Lord spoke to me again:
6 Because these people rejected
the slowly flowing waters of Shiloah
and rejoiced with[e] Rezin
and the son of Remaliah,
7 the Lord will certainly bring against them
the mighty rushing waters of the Euphrates River—
the king of Assyria and all his glory.
It will overflow its channels
and spill over all its banks.
8 It will pour into Judah,
flood over it, and sweep through,
reaching up to the neck;
and its spreading streams[f]
will fill your entire land, Immanuel!
9 Band together, peoples, and be broken;
pay attention, all you distant lands;
prepare for war, and be broken;
prepare for war, and be broken.
10 Devise a plan; it will fail.
Make a prediction; it will not happen.
For God is with us.[g]
The Lord of Hosts, the Only Refuge
11 For this is what the Lord said to me with great power, to keep[h] me from going the way of this people:
12 Do not call everything an alliance
these people say is an alliance.
Do not fear what they fear;
do not be terrified.
13 You are to regard only the Lord of Hosts as holy.
Only He should be feared;
only He should be held in awe.
14 He will be a sanctuary;
but for the two houses of Israel,
He will be a stone to stumble over
and a rock to trip over,
and a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
15 Many will stumble over these;
they will fall and be broken;
they will be snared and captured.
16 Bind up the testimony.
Seal up the instruction among my disciples.
17 I will wait for the Lord,
who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob.
I will wait for Him.
18 Here I am with the children the Lord has given me to be signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of Hosts who dwells on Mount Zion. 19 When they say to you, “Consult the spirits of the dead and the spiritists who chirp and mutter,” shouldn’t a people consult their God?[i] Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living? 20 To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, there will be no dawn for them.
21 They will wander through the land, dejected and hungry. When they are famished, they will become enraged, and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God. 22 They will look toward the earth and see only distress, darkness, and the gloom of affliction, and they will be driven into thick darkness.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 8:1 Hb obscure
- Isaiah 8:1 Lit with the pen of a man
- Isaiah 8:1 = Speeding to the Plunder, Hurrying to the Spoil
- Isaiah 8:2 Vg; MT, one DSS ms read I will appoint; one DSS ms, LXX, Syr, Tg read Appoint
- Isaiah 8:6 Or and rejoiced over
- Isaiah 8:8 Or wings
- Isaiah 8:10 Or For Immanuel
- Isaiah 8:11 DSS; MT reads instruct
- Isaiah 8:19 Or gods