That’s Your Plan?

“Woe to the rebellious children! This is the Lord’s declaration. They carry out a plan, but not mine; they make an alliance, but against my will, piling sin on top of sin. Without asking my advice they set out to go down to Egypt in order to seek shelter under Pharaoh’s protection and take refuge in Egypt’s shadow. But Pharaoh’s protection will become your shame, and refuge in Egypt’s shadow your humiliation. For though his princes are at Zoan and his messengers reach as far as Hanes, everyone will be ashamed because of a people who can’t help. They are of no benefit, they are no help; they are good for nothing but shame and disgrace… Therefore the Lord is waiting to show you mercy, and is rising up to show you compassion, for the Lord is a just God. All who wait patiently for him are happy.” (Isaiah 30:1-5, 18 CSB)

Key verse: “Therefore the Lord is waiting to show you mercy, and is rising up to show you compassion, for the Lord is a just God. All who wait patiently for him are happy.” (Isaiah 30:18 CSB)

I don’t know what kind of child you were, but I had a tendency to get into trouble. I usually had accomplices in these episodes of mischief, but that sure doesn’t diminish my culpability and guilt in any way. I grew up during a time when it was still considered safe for us to play outside in our neighborhood until dark or when Mom yelled for us. We rode our bikes, played kick the can (a form of hide and seek), caught lightning bugs and a host of other mostly innocuous activities. But those innocent childhood things inevitably led us into trouble. Not because our games were bad but because somebody would suggest something that wasn’t “parent approved.”

That’s essentially what happens in our focal passage, this week. God’s people are accused of being “rebellious children” because they head down a path and make plans that are in direct defiance to God’s plan and purpose for their lives. We’ve already touched on these plans, making an alliance with Egypt in an attempt to defend against an Assyrian attack. But why is this political alliance so deeply offensive to God? Because it is a rejection of God’s provision, protection and covenant with His people. In essence, this is a rejection of God’s love for them, their salvation and deliverance from slavery through the Passover and Exodus and a deliberate decision to live enslaved to death.

“They carry out a plan, but not mine; they make an alliance, but against my will, piling sin on top of sin.” There’s a bit of word play in Isaiah’s reference to this alliance. It can be translated as “blanket” or a covering intended to protect them. The same word has been previously translated as “idol” because it implies the people trust it rather than trusting in God. The mental image is one of a child who clutches a blanket in the belief it will protect him from the monsters that lurk in the darkness. The protection the blanket provides is as much a figment of his imagination as the monsters are who lurk in the darkness of his fears.

Isaiah then makes a pronouncement concerning “the animals of Negev”. It appears that the ambassadors from Judah are leading a caravan of donkeys and camels carrying “treasures” to Pharaoh to ensure the political alliance. What’s ironic is that they are following the reverse path taken by their ancestors during the Exodus. Isaiah sees them returning to their former state of slavery, to a people who cannot help them. He then calls Egypt, “Rahab Who Just Sits”. Just to be clear, this is NOT a reference to Rahab in the story of Joshua and the battle of Jericho. This is a reference to the “chaos” and rebellion of Leviathan or the deceiver, Satan. They’re believing his lies and following his path, not God’s, as they pile sin on top of sin.

This is how we often respond to God’s love in our lives. “Thanks, but no thanks. I’ve got this. I can handle this myself, God. I’ll let you know when I need help.” But this isn’t going to turn out like you think. God’s response to Judah is that their trust in Egypt will become their shame and humiliation. Think about it… Why put your trust in something that has already proven to be worthless, ineffective and no match for God? His response to our lack of faith will be no different than His response to theirs. Why do you trust in things that fail you? This will bring nothing but shame and humiliation on your life. These things will do nothing for you. They are nothing more than “chaos that just sits” in your life. God says, “They can’t save you, only I can. Let go of your blanket and grab onto Me!”

This next section has to do with our grasp on the truth. God tells Isaiah to “go, write this down on a tablet in their presence.” The problem is not that they haven’t been told the truth but that they’ve rejected the truth. He wants it preserved so that they can reference it when everything He has said comes to fruition. They are children who “don’t want to listen to the LORD’s instruction.” Instead of desiring to see what God has revealed, they tell the seers: “Don’t see!” Instead of desiring to hear a word from God, they tell the prophets: “Don’t prophesy truth to us. Tell us flattering things. Prophesy illusions.” While nobody would REALLY say these things, their response to God says it all. They’ve rejected His message, rejected His plan and rejected His protection. They’ve rejected Him!

“Get out of the way! Leave the pathway. Rid us of the Holy One of Israel.” (Isaiah 30:11 CSB)

When we reject God’s Word and deny the truth given in it then we’ve rejected Him.

God tells them that their rejection of His message and their trust in oppression and deceit will be like a “bulge in a high wall” that suddenly collapses. He goes further and tells them this collapse will be like a piece of pottery that is shattered. There’s not even a fragment large enough to carry a live coal from a fire or scoop water out of a cistern. Their lives will be utterly destroyed. Nothing left. God offers to deliver them if they will just “return” and “rest” in Him, that their strength lies in “quiet confidence” or faith in Him. But they refuse to trust Him, to rely on His strength to protect them. Instead, they believe they can escape on fast horses. But God tells them, “those who pursue you will be faster.” The threat is so great that a thousand will flee at the threat of one Assyrian soldier and everyone will flee from the threat of just five.

Their rejection of the LORD will result in judgment. But His judgment has purpose and is always intended to draw them back into faith and fellowship with Him. He is “waiting to show you mercy, and is rising up to show you compassion, for the LORD is a just God.” This is the image of the father in Luke 15 waiting for the prodigal to return home. Isaiah notes that the LORD will give them “meager bread and water” during this time of judgment, but their “Teacher” will no longer hide from them. They will begin to hear His commands, again: “This is the way. Walk in it.”

As they begin walking in His ways, they will defile the idols they have held so close and throw them away, like filthy menstrual cloths. You need to let that sink in a bit. The idols they had embraced were not necessarily physical, but emotional and mental. They were being judged for trusting Egypt rather than trusting God. They had fallen back into the old way of thinking, they wanted to rely on Egypt instead of God. These are the same idols we embrace today, the same sins we pile one on top of the other. We have heard the truth regarding God’s salvation, but we still try and save ourselves.

Listen to His Word: For the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has said: ‘You will be delivered by returning and resting; your strength will lie in quiet confidence. But you are not willing.’ (Isaiah 30:15 CSB)

I think it is important to note, the kingdom of God has both come and is still coming (see Luke 17:20-34). Jesus tells us that the kingdom of God is within us, but there will be a day when everyone will see His kingdom come in a very visible way. This helps us understand Isaiah’s reference in verses 18-26. There is both a present reality to God’s rule in our lives and a future fulfillment of His reign over our lives. There’s both a “now” and a “not yet” to the kingdom of God. The present reality is the Spirit of God speaking to our spirits: “This is the way. Walk in it.” The disciplining work of the Spirit as He convicts us of sin, as we take our idols and we toss them in the trash and walk with Him in obedience and trust. Then there’s the future reality where we see every tear wiped away, when our eyes will see our Teacher – face to face, sin will be judged, evil will be destroyed and the LORD will bind up His people’s injuries and heal their wounds.

We tend to speak of that time with a longing, an anticipation of better things. But the kingdom of God doesn’t come without the judgment of sin. His kingdom won’t come without the destruction of evil, the purging of false idols and humble obedience to God’s will. The JOY of the LORD can’t come without the wrath of the Holy One of Israel. The world wants to revel in God’s love, but His judgment of sin and His wrath against evil is the fulfillment of His love for us. His love cannot know full expression without the destruction of the evil that plagues our world and judgment of the sin that rebels against His will. If all God wanted to do was to love the world while we continued to revel in our sin, then the death of the Son was unnecessary. The wounds can’t be healed without destroying the cause, won’t heal unless the infection that plagues us is cleansed from us. We can’t truly heal while sin still plagues us.

This is the very thing we see in the closing verses of this chapter. “Look! The name of the LORD is coming from far away, His anger burning and heavy with smoke.” While these verses of judgment specifically reference Assyria, this is clearly a judgment against evil, the judgment of God on all sin. But in the midst of God’s judgment and while His lips are full of fury, His people come singing like they would on the night of a holy festival. Their hearts rejoice like walking to the music of the flute as they climb the mountain of the LORD, up to the Rock of Israel.

Let me close with these words of encouragement, the battle that ensues as the LORD purges our world of the evil and sin that has plagued it for so long is not a fair fight. Listen to Isaiah’s words: “Assyria will be shattered by the voice of the LORD.” By His VOICE! The New Testament tells us that the expression of God, His voice or His WORD, is the Son – Jesus. “The one who rejects me and doesn’t receive my sayings has this as his judge: The word I have spoken will judge him on the last day.” (John 12:48 CSB)

The world has a false sense of love, a misshapen view of what true love really is. We think God must love like we do, but that’s exactly backwards. Scripture corrects us and tells us that true love is from God. We love because God first loved us. Our love must conform to be like His, not His conform to be like ours. Sin is pervasive, it has infected every part of our being. It has even infected the ways in which we know and express love for God and for each other. We struggle to see love in these final verses of judgment of our focal passage.

God loves us SO much that He’s willing to die to cleanse us of sin and that includes the sinful ways in which we love. In fact, Jesus actually highlights this very fact when He tells us about the two great commandments (Matt. 22:34-40). We often fail to love God above everyone and everything else in life and we often fail to love others in the same way we love ourselves. Why? Because our love tends to be entirely selfish. But true love isn’t selfish, it is self giving. It is desiring the good of the other above ourselves. That’s why God was willing to die to redeem us from sin. He valued us and our love for Him more than the temporal pain of His suffering on a Roman cross.

Do you value God and His will in that way? Do you love Him so much that you are willing to suffer the temporal pain of His discipline that leads you into obedience to Him? Do you love His plan and His will for you more than you love your plan and your will for your life? That’s the lesson of Isaiah 30. God’s love for us is so pure, so real, so deep that it cannot tolerate the destructive nature of sin in us. Do we love Him enough to embrace His plan to destroy it, to cleanse us of it?

We spent this past week teaching these very lessons to the children who attended our vacation Bible school. God’s Word is true and if we want to know Him and love Him then we must be willing to reject the world’s view of life and embrace God’s view of life. We must desire His plan for our lives, not ours. We must submit ourselves to the truths of His Word instead of trying to force His Word to submit to our desires. So, I want to call you to make the same choice. Choose God’s plan for your life, not your own.