WARNING: Don’t forget God in the PROCESS of Leading the People
The prophet Isaiah is warning King Hezekiah to be clear as the leader who is God and for the king to put himself and the people in perspective of God.
The prophet Isaiah is warning King Hezekiah to be certain there will soon be a day when all the wealth and possession will be taken away. Where will the king turn when there is no peace?
The prophet Isaiah is warning King Hezekiah to be aware that they people and his kingdom will be turned over to Babylon and he speaks for God saying: Who is mighty, Who is in control, who is THE king when the kingdom is overthrown due to arrogance, misplaces alliance and a loss of faith?
Isaiah reminds the king of God’s place in the order of politics:
TO THE PEOPLE
1. FIRST, God’s words are to the people: “Comfort, O comfort my people” The king may be leading you to destruction but that does NOT mean I have forgotten you.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.
2. (There are consequences for following a king that leads people away from God) Nevertheless: God is still with us.
3. FOLLOW GOD FIRST, above all:
A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.
Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
FOLKS WILL SAY
People will say… Folks will shout out… Leaders will talk but let’s look at the basics:
GRASS: Flowers, grass.. When the winds blow, where will you run?
MOUNTAINS: High places don’t make you closer to God.
GOD is a GOOD SHEPHERD: Feed on God’s grace… grazing
OCEANS and SEAS and LAND: God’s handiwork, and it operates by God’s design, not king’s command and laws.
POWER, WISDOM, KNOWLEDGE, JUSTICE, UNDERSTANDING:
God’s heart/spirit is God’s to will.
God is God’s own counselor.
You might explain how a tomato is formed, but who designed and produced the first one.
Who taught your kings what they know and who taught them..
A DROP in the bucket
Add up all the wealth, knowledge, wisdom and talents in the world and no one can make a blade of grass from scratch.
The DEFINITION OF DEPRAVITY
Here is an equation: Take all the fuel in the world, efforts of humanity focused on one task, use all your resources, all the gross national products of all nations combined and who can make a blade of grass.
WE ARE ALL EMPTY and NOTHING without God.
COMPARISON: piss’n contest (forgive the crudeness)
To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him?
IS an IDOL greater than God?
A thing, shaped by a workman, guilded by another, and displayed by another with (no rot wood)
Designer’s CHALLENGE
CAN ANYTHING WE MIGHT FORM, DESIGN OR DREAM UP out do what God has already done. Start with a mustard seed, a carrot, a flea, on tick on an fly….
WHAT ABOUT THE ORDER of things?
WHO WAS AT THE BEGINNING? Who created the matter? Who defined gravity, mass and energy? Who started the big bang? Who determined relativity, string theory and quantum mechanics would be the guiding factors?
WHO ARE YOU KIDDING: Who are you king? Who are you president? Who are you Hezikiah? compare yourself to God. God says through ISAIAH: I think, at best, you are a grasshopper.
You didn’t form the earth and all that is in it.
You didn’t form a chicken or an egg.
You didn’t make a blade of grass much less the seasons that both kill the grass and renew it in the spring.
SO WHAT ?
LIFT UP YOUR EYES AND SEE. (KNOW and SPEAK the truth)
WHY DARE do you ask: Where is God? What does it matter? Life is not fair!
HAVE YOU NOT HEARD
- God is everlasting.
- God is always creating and recreating
- God gives power to the fainting and powerless
- God does not get tired.
- God renew those who are tired.
Therefore, Fly, Run and Walk
The Soar like eagles makes for a good song or placard.. but more significant is the series of perspective.
Can you fly, can you run, can you even walk without using what God has already made for you?
A CASE for reminding the king, the people and the nations of the world:
God, who made heaven and earth, shows grace through his Son, and power, knowledge and wisdom through his Spirit and Counselor is to be trusted with all that we are.
BOTTOM LINE: (Yeah, Preacher, we know all that stuff, so what?)
Isaiah is making a case for us to tell the king, tell each other and tell the world, God is all around. Don’t doubt it. Don’t forget it. Don’t confuse it. Don’t deny it. Don’t take it for granted. PRAISE the LORD.