Who to Trust

DEVOTION

ISAIAH

WHO TO TRUST

Isa 2:12-22

12 The LORD Almighty has a day in store for all the proud and lofty, for all that is exalted (and they will be humbled), 13 for all the cedars of Lebanon, tall and lofty, and all the oaks of Bashan, 14 for all the towering mountains and all the high hills, 15 for every lofty tower and every fortified wall, 16 for every trading ship and every stately vessel. 17 The arrogance of man will be brought low and the pride of men humbled; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day, 18 and the idols will totally disappear.

19 Men will flee to caves in the rocks and to holes in the ground from dread of the LORD and the splendor of his majesty, when he rises to shake the earth. 20 In that day men will throw away to the rodents and bats their idols of silver and idols of gold, which they made to worship. 21 They will flee to caverns in the rocks and to the overhanging crags from dread of the LORD and the splendor of his majesty, when he rises to shake the earth

22 Stop trusting in man, who has but a breath in his nostrils. Of what account is he?

NIV

It is amazing how arrogant mankind has become. If we but take a step back, and take a look from the perspective of God, we would be able to see all the arrogance, and hopefully not within ourselves. When man thinks that he has any effect on the worldwide environment and that he has the answer and the means to correct it, then he has dismissed God altogether. Mankind has made itself a god in its own eyes. Which man can either cause or stop a tornado, or hurricane? What man can eliminate earthquakes or stop the wind or rain? What good is all the gold and silver in the world when that day the Lord has in store all the proud and lofty. What does it matter how many stock and bonds, or how diverse a person’s investment portfolio is when that day happens. When men trust in their own efforts, and that is both in the sense of the world and in the church, they are being prideful and they will be brought down. Storing up wealth for ourselves is arrogant, thinking we have our life all planned out. Storing up good deeds amounts to the same arrogant thinking. This is not to say we should not do good deeds, for we are indeed to serve the Lord in a manner worthy of him, but all we do needs to be for his glory, not ours. So then we do not announce all our good deeds all over the land. Even in our giving we are not to let the right hand know what the left hand is doing. But the church, the body of Christ may have lost sight of that, for we want everyone to know how much we give. There are pastors who lift up the “big givers”. We once witnessed a giver so prideful they allowed the denomination to name a building in their name. We once witnessed a pastor, when special visitors were present to enumerate how many “Ministries” the church was involved in. The prideful will be brought down in that day the Lord has in store. We can even get prideful in our spiritually. “See how holy we are?” “See how sinless we are?” How can we trust in ourselves for anything? How can we even think we are worthy of any praise or honor? Without God, without Jesus, without the Spirit, we do not stand a chance to escape what is coming. If we put any trust in our good works, or good behavior, or our wealth or material possessions, we better head for the hills and find some cave to hide in, although that is not going to help. Our only hope is to have complete total uncompromising trust in the Lord for every aspect of our life, in fact, for our very breath. When we consider he has numbered the hairs on our head, he is the total, absolute authority over all the earth and over all our lives. We are convinced if God were to stop thinking about us, we would just vanish, disappear into thin air, and be no more. So why would we trust in man? Why would we trust in anything about ourselves? There is only one whom we can trust, the Lord Almighty. All we have is but a breath in our nostrils, God has and is everything. It comes down to, who do we trust?