Jesus challenges His followers not to worry.
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life.”
“So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own.” (Matthew 6:25 and 34).
Instead of worrying about the basic needs of food and clothing, Jesus encourages another pathway.
“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33).
Seven hundred years before Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount, Isaiah presented two possible paths to overcome worry.
The King Who Uses Kings
When we seek God’s kingdom, we place our trust in the King of all kings. This reference in Isaiah 41 to Cyrus, the Persian king, came years after Isaiah’s prophecy. While the people waited for deliverance through Cyrus, they had to view world events through the eyes of faith, not sight.
Listen to me in silence, O coastlands;
let the peoples renew their strength;
let them approach, then let them speak;
let us together draw near for judgment.
Who has roused a victor from the east,
summoned him to his service?
He delivers up nations to him
and tramples kings under foot;
he makes them like dust with his sword,
like driven stubble with his bow.
He pursues them and passes on safely,
scarcely touching the path with his feet.
Who has performed and done this,
calling the generations from the beginning?
I, the Lord, am first,
and will be with the last. (Isaiah 41:1-4)
A woman was told about heavenly blessings for God’s faithful. She replied, “I have trouble paying for groceries with heavenly blessings.”
One civil rights leader equated hoping for God’s intervention from the inequities he witnessed as “standing on tiptoes.” He told a crowd, “You get tired when you stand on tiptoes for a long time.”
Only God can declare “I AM,” as we read in verse 4. “I AM” declares that God is and there is no other like Him. Still, it takes faith to seek first God’s kingdom in the face of the kind of troubles faced by the faithful over the centuries.
When faced with pressing needs, one of the options is to turn to substitutes for God in the hope that they will help.
Idols—Substitutes for God
Isaiah rightly had a very low view of idols, and he frequently used sarcasm to reveal their inability to make a difference in troubled times.
The coastlands have seen and are afraid;
the ends of the earth tremble;
they have drawn near and come.
Each one helps the other,
saying to one another, “Take courage!”
The artisan encourages the goldsmith,
and the one who smooths with the hammer encourages the one who strikes the anvil,
saying of the soldering, “It is good,”
and they fasten it with nails so that it cannot be moved. (Isaiah 41:5-7)
Like whistling in the dark, people encourage one another to “take courage,” to no avail. Faith in human-constructed substitutes for God is likewise a futile effort.
In his Easter address, Pope Leo described the need for modern-day tombs that need opening.
“Even in our own day, there is no shortage of tombs that need opening; indeed, the stones sealing them are often so heavy and so heavily guarded that they seem immovable.”
“Some of these stones weigh upon the human heart—such as mistrust, fear, selfishness, and resentment. Others—the consequences of those inner burdens—sever the bonds between us, such as war, injustice, and the closing off of peoples and nations from one another.”
“Let us not allow ourselves to be paralyzed by them!” the pope said.
The tombs Pope Leo identified represent modern-day idols that challenge humans from seeking first God’s kingdom and His righteousness. Trust these substitutes for God, and we will certainly experience worry, anxiety, and fear.
Isaiah spoke for God and revealed the faith-option in a fear-producing world.
Fear Not
When we hear the words “fear not,” it’s important to recognize the voice of the one speaking. The “take courage” blather of verse 6 are the empty words of one human to another.
The “do not fear” message of verse 10 comes from the Creator of the universe.
Do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be afraid, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you; I will help you;
I will uphold you with my victorious right hand. (Isaiah 41:10)
God can tell us to “fear not” because He is our helper.
For I, the Lord your God,
hold your right hand;
it is I who say to you, “Do not fear,
I will help you.” (Isaiah 41:13)
The reason why Jesus tells us not to worry, but rather to seek God’s kingdom, is because He knows you can fully trust the One who holds your hand.
Jesus placed His entire trust in the heavenly Father when He said “not my will, but yours be done” in the Garden (Luke 22:42). Leaving the Garden, He experienced six trials, a severe beating, humiliation, and six long hours on the cross. All of this was in pursuit of the kingdom of God.
God was the One who held His hand and demonstrated to the world that we can trust Him, not earthly idols.
Training, Not Trying
When I was in high school, I participated in the state golf championship. Tom Watson won the tournament with a one-under-par score for 27 holes of golf. I was five over par when a tornado warning mercifully ended my day.
What was the difference between Tom Watson and me? I played golf. Watson trained to be a golfer. I tried as hard as I could at every tournament, but he trained every day to be the best.
We all will face anxiety-producing trials. The temptation will be to turn to the world’s substitutes for God instead of God’s rule for our lives.
Whether we are able to say with Jesus, “not my will but yours be done,” will depend not on how hard we try but whether we have been in training.
A daily meeting with God and consistent obedience in large and small matters is a good place to start training. As we do that, we can confidently trust God to hold our hands in tough times.
YouTube Discussion
Rudy Ross, Bruce Kirby, and I discussed this passage on YouTube today.
Real Voices 