Undisturbed Habitation (Is. 33)

A strange phenomenon is occurring. An ongoing crisis rages in our land, and our churches sit, for the most part, startlingly empty. Thousands of people in the United States and all over the world are dying daily, and instead of rushing the gates of heaven pleading for mercy, those claiming to be His stay away from each other, isolated in fear, blaming God for not stopping COVID-19 instead of imploring Him to end this plague of our times. 

Think about it. After 9/11 the churches were full to bursting, the prayers being lifted high even in the abject fear of what had just happened and what could happen in the war to come. Maybe it is the rapidity with which things happened, the suddenness of the crisis that killed almost 3,000 people and injured 6,000 more in one day that drew people to God. Maybe today’s ongoing crisis that has claimed 705,000 people to date (in less than two years) and has sickened 44 million people in the USA alone has provided an opportunity for the enemy to keep people from Him. It seems we are on board with his strategy to keep people from hearing the word of the Lord, from praising Him even in the midst of the storm itself, from seeking shelter in Him.

As I read today through Acts and somehow found myself on a detour through Is. 32-33 today, I noticed a verse that jumped out at me. Isaiah 33:6 says this: “God shall be the stability of your times, a wealth of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge. The fear of the Lord is his [or Zion’s] treasure” (NASB). This same God who is gracious in the midst of tribulation and the tumult that follows (whether a quick one or one that lingers), the One who is strength every morning, He alone is salvation in the time of distress. While others run away in trouble, fleeing, we run to Him, the One God who is exalted above all others, who dwells on high, filling Zion with justice and righteousness, stability. Even in consuming fire like those under God’s judgment in Is. 33 faced, even in times with great trouble such as now, we don’t have to walk about terrified. We have been given wisdom and knowledge, in fact, “His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence” (2 Peter 1:3, NASB). Isaiah provides practical things we can do instead of being tossed about by an immediate crisis:

1. We can walk righteously.  Sticking close to God and His word, what He desires of us, is key. Are we reading His word daily, spending time in prayer, loving Him and loving others whole-heartedly?

2. We can speak with sincerity. Are we acting as hypocrites who speak one thing and live another way? 

3. We can reject unjust gain. Are we profiting from other people’s troubles and tragedies or even their fears?

4. We can refuse a bribe of any kind. This verse makes me think of Ephesians 5:3: “But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints.” It just shouldn’t be, and if the temptation arises, we should run from it.

5. We can stop our ears from hearing about and dwelling upon bloodshed. Are we consumed with hearing about and dwelling upon the ongoing tragedies of a world that can’t look away from its trouble? I admit that even though I don’t watch news shows regularly, I tend to keep a more frequent check upon the numbers of the counties around me, the cases and the deaths. Sometimes, I struggle with the not hearing it. Almost as much as I struggle with not seeing it.

6. We can shut our eyes from looking upon evil. This is the tough one. Evil seems to be everywhere. From where are we getting our information? Is it fact or fiction? Are we spending more time on Facebook or Instagram or the news that often blares from our TVs in a steady streaming, or are we spending quality time with God, with His truth that conflicts with the what the world offers as normal, the world's deviant view of God. 

If we live in this way as those are urged to in this list found in Is. 33:15 (as ancient as it is and even as it relates to a city about to be under the siege of the enemy), we will not be distracted by the world and its lusts but will refocus on the security we have because of our close walk with the King. We will see instead of our troubles or the troubles of the world around us, His beauty, our gazes on a far-distant land, heaven. We will be concerned about what He is concerned about, and we will love people and protect them even while we gather together in His name. 

When we look intently upon the things of this world, we easily forget it is not our final destination, “For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come” (Heb. 13:14). This world is just a place we are passing through briefly. As those who proclaim to belong to God, we should trust Him to provide all we need as we shelter in Him, our Rock.

Isaiah paints a picture of the Zion to come in chapter 33, a shore unreachable to any but those whom Christ brings with Him, for those He has gone to prepare a place. That Zion is a place of appointed feasts that all in Him will attend with no need for an interpreter, no fear of an aggressor in a city undisturbed full of those who believe in Him, who trust Him, dwelling together forever, never having to leave the place where the Trinity dwells. Home. A “place of rivers and wide canals on which no boat with oars shall go and on which no mighty ship shall pass” (v. 21, NASB), a place where we can dwell without worrying about invaders or attackers (like happened on 9/11 OR like now with the one called the coronavirus) because God is our judge, lawgiver, King, our Saviour—He is ALL; He is ENOUGH—and those dwelling with Him will neither know sickness or infirmity but will live in the forgiveness of their sin because of the work Christ has already done here on earth. 

Here is my encouragement: instead of running away, we should all be running to Him every single day. As usual, Matthew Henry says it much better than I could even begin to do: “If God leaves us to ourselves any morning, we are undone. We must therefore every morning commit ourselves to him, and go forth in His strength to do the work of the day in its day.”  Don't let the world's consuming fear and promotion of isolation keep you from Him.