I’m reading through Isaiah and this verse struck me this morning:
If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all. Isaiah 7:9
The prophet was speaking words of both warning and encouragement to the nation of Judah in the face of the threat of national disaster. He urged them to be calm, to not give into fear when the LORD, their God was with them.
There are at least two ways to apply this verse. The first looks at our emotional, spiritual and mental state when we do not “stand firm in faith.” The reality is that we have two options at every moment in the face of every hardship, threat or disaster. We can give way to fear, or we can trust in the goodness, love and power of God in the face of the threat. It may be easy to give into fear. The physical, visible experience may be quite overpowering and difficult. It may be especially hard to “see through” the experience to the Invisible, yet very real God, who continues to work things out for the good of those who love Him. But we must. If we give way to fear–we will be a mess. Gone will be the peace, the confidence, the security that can help us to function when we most need our “wits about us.” It is our trust in God in the midst of the “storms of life” that keeps us anchored to the only thing that is not tossing and turning in this troubled world. When we let go of that trust–we will be swept away in the waves as well.
The second application of this is far more serious than our mental or emotional state at any given moment. It deals with our very life and salvation. It is “through faith” that we are saved from the ultimate disaster of an eternity apart from God. It is “through faith” that we receive the blessings of forgiveness, righteousness and life that God gives to us on account of the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus. If we abandon faith, we abandon the means by which we receive and apprehend the promises of God and we are lost. We will not stand firm forever, but will be lost.
If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.
But these applications still look at this from the perspective of ME and what I get out of this faith thing. They still fail to look at the object of our trust. The reality is that we should trust God not because it will keep us the most calm or give us the most sense of peace. We should not even trust God simply to avoid eternal destruction. We should trust God, because God is worthy of our trust.
God IS good, loving and powerful. He IS able to save us and provide eternal security, joy and peace. He has proved His goodness in the giving of His Son on the cross. He has given us His Spirit as a pledge of the inheritance that is ours through faith in Him. God IS faithful and He will do what He has promised.