The LORD Almighty is the One
you are to regard as holy. He is the One you are to fear; He is the One you are
to dread. Hosea 8:13 (NIV)
Let me be perfectly
transparent; deciding to return to South Africa (SA), where we have lived and
worked, has been a very hard decision. I would like to say it was not and that my
walk with Jesus has grown me so I always decide at once to do God’s will. But,
let me tell you, I am human. Like you, I have senior-aged parents, adult
children, grandchildren, and friends in America whom I miss terribly and whom I
cannot help, especially my mom, stepmom, and stepfather. Life is easier here in
America. I generally can find anything my mind can ever think of wanting. (That
does not mean I need it!) I am now vaccinated against COVID-19 here. I would
not be in SA. The variants in South Africa are more virulent so I do not trust
that I am safe from them. Let me say it again; this has been a very prayerful
season in America. Each time we go on stateside assignment, we are prayerful.
This one was, for me, a wrestling with God to figure out His will exactly and
to bring myself in alignment with Him.
God and I have been having
deep and long conversations about returning to South Africa (our home) since I
arrived here in October for my third child’s wedding. This conversation became
more desperate by the end of March when I had not heard from Him definitively
if we can stay in America or must go back to SA. Since becoming a Christian, when
I professed saving faith in Jesus when I was fourteen years old, I listened to
my ministers teaching that unless you hear from God to change what you are
doing, keep doing what He last told you. As I asked God if He wants us to go
back to SA, I heard nothing from Him in my first months in America. I understood
that meant, “Yes.” God wants me to return there. But being human and hoping for
a new direction, I asked and kept on asking. I asked prayer-sisters to pray as
I battled with God about this. Understand this, God did not battle with me; I
battled with Him. My battle was seeking to understand for sure if I must return
to SA. It was a battle of my will against God’s, though I already understood
what He wanted me to do.
Sunday, I told God, I recognized
you want me to return to SA, but please, as I read Isaiah 8-11, show me
explicitly. (I hate to admit that because that shows I am still weak. We all
are. Hopefully, we are growing to be more like Jesus each day.) God honored my
request and showed me His answer explicitly in His word. He taught me as He
taught the Israelites, through His prophet, Isaiah. How I wish I were not
comparable to the Israelites. Really, we all are like them. Our spiritual graphs
go up and down like theirs did. Remember this, I never doubted God wanted us
back in South Africa. I wished He wanted us in America. That point is where God
met me.
The first thing we must know
about Isaiah 8:1-18 is these are the words God spoke to Isaiah telling him what
He will do to the Israelites and why. Isaiah’s written words were his response to
God’s foretelling His disciplining the Israelites. Isaiah is like each Christian.
God calls us to be His messengers and tell the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We each
must remember He is Almighty. God is the only one who is Holy. Holy means He
has never sinned. Can any of us say this? He is the standard for our lives.
In Isaiah 8:12, God told
Isaiah not to fear or dread anything or anyone except Him. This fear is the
reverence and awe of God and the fear for my life. Basically, God said, “Do not
be afraid of what they may do to you but know I will discipline you, like them,
if you do not obey Me.” Since God is holy, we need to fear, revere, and live in
awe of Him. Because He is holy, no one is like Him. Paul wrote about this
sinful state. He said, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of
God,” in Romans 3:23 (NIV). We do not need to fear anything or anyone else because
God is Almighty. He destroys false Gods and reigns preeminent over all created
things. As God’s messengers, those He calls to tell other people about Jesus,
we do not have to fear other people or created things. Because God is holy, we
should obey Him in fear and awe.
What does Isaiah 8:12 have to
do with my situation? Well, God pointed out to me what caused me to ask for clear
confirmation of His will for me to return to SA-fear. Fear was my excuse. I
checked my heart and mind and determined of what I feared or dreaded (Is.
8:13c). I noted two things: having to leave family and friends and facing the
third wave of Covid-19 in South Africa, where most recent cases are the Delta
variant. Mentally, I did not want to face that crisis again. (I said I am
human, remember.) Physically, I did not want to get the virus. I know doctors
there with Covid-19 patients and they were afraid. Of course, other doctors are
not afraid. God used Isaiah 8:13 to help me understand what caused my need for
confirmation instead of just trusting Him. He reminded me He is holy and Almighty,
and I do not need to fear or dread anything. I should fear only God with awe.
God told me one other thing in
this speech to Isaiah. He said I should revere and be in awe of Him by being gratefully
obedient to His will for my life. That means I need to “cheerfully” prioritize
His will over my family and friends. Remember that verse in 2 Corinthians 9:7
where Paul wrote, “Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart
to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” (NIV)
Being a “cheerful giver” comes from our trusting God. We should give our tithes,
our offerings to God, whether of our money, time, family, friends, and life, cheerfully,
not reluctantly. We should give Him all we are and have each day because His
love never fails. We can trust Him. God’s calling of us to be about His
business never stops. He calls each of His children to tell the gospel to all
people. God wants each person to know this, just like He did the Israelites. Our
telling the gospel is one way to tithe of our time and self. If we truly love
the Lord, we will want to give back to Him that which He has given to us for
His purposes, our lives in obedience to Him. Does that mean there will not be
tears when you say goodbye to friends and family or when you must bury your
parents at whose side you could not sit when they died? No, there are tears.
God gave us tears to help release the emotions of sorrow and joy. (Aren’t tears
wonderfully refreshing?) With this part of the passage in Isaiah 8, I needed to
decide if I would dread returning to the people of SA or if I would cheerfully
go because they are the people whom God loves and to whom He sends me to
witness and minister. Instead of dreading or fearing my return to SA, I can be
like Isaiah was when he said in verse seventeen, “I will wait for the LORD. I
will put my trust in Him.” We can completely trust God. If you
are honest, He has never failed you. And He will not fail you. He loves you and
loves the people whom He puts in your path daily.
When we completely trust
God and not fear or dread what might come, we can experience the hope
God gives each of His children. He gave us this hope when we professed Jesus as
the Messiah, God’s Son. Yet, many of us allow fear and dread to overshadow that
hope. Nothing ever can overshadow God or anything from Him, even hope. Nothing
can hide the Truth and Light. What is this hope? Isaiah tells the Israelites
this hope from God in Isaiah 9:2, “The people walking in darkness have seen a
great Light; on those living in the land of deep darkness, a Light has dawned.”
(NIV) This hope is for the near future and the distant future. The Israelites had
seen a great Light. They saw the fire lighting their way in the darkness when
they left Egypt. And they would see this same light again. God was telling them
to have hope because He would lead them back to the Promised Land after they
became captives to Assyria and Babylon. God is faithful and will keep His
promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For the Israelites, the distant future held
the hope of the Messiah, who One would come from a virgin and would be “God
with us,” Immanuel. This hope God gave to the Israelites through Isaiah’s
prophecy is a hope we Christians can hold on to even today. When we completely trust
God and allow His hope to shine a Light for us and lead us, we do not
dread or fear. We align our hearts with God to be cheerfully obedient,
so the entire world will know about Jesus.
What have I relearned from
God’s loving compassion and forbearance with me during this stateside
assignment time? I can allow dread and fear to keep me from walking in the
peace God gives through the hope He gave to me when I became a Christian. I can
allow my excuses to keep me from serving God and have no peace about it. Lack
of hope affects the heart, mind, soul, and strength and keeps me from loving
God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. God spoke of this through
Moses in Deuteronomy 6:4-5 and Jesus spoke of it in Matthew 22:37, too. Jesus
added one other commandment. It sums up the last six of the Ten Commandments.
He called it the second greatest commandment when He said, “And the second is
like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.” I cannot do either of the two
greatest commandments if I allow the fear and dread, which comes from Satan, to
keep me from trusting and loving the Lord with my whole being. And do not get
me wrong; I love God to the depths of my being. My commitment to Him 44 years ago
when I became a believer in Jesus and 21.5 years ago when I first left America
to go to South Africa show the depth of my love for Him. I have made this same
decision every time I returned there after our stateside assignment times. Does
my heart want to stay in America? Yes! But my heart longs even more to follow
God. He continues to lead me to South Africa.
Ask that same question to
yourself? Do you love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength? If you
do, then you will have no problem saying yes to the next question. Do you love
your neighbor as you love yourself? Do you love them enough that you will do
whatever God asks of you, go where he tells you to go, and live with and
minister to the people He loves and has called you to serve? See, that is the
rub. We must love God enough that no matter what He asks of us, we will not
dread, fear, or offer excuses for not “being able” to go. I am still learning,
but I can say God is my everything and my family falls in line right behind Him
in my consideration. It does not mean I love my family less. I love them enough
to show God means everything to me. It shows them just what everything means
and becomes an example to them of love for God.
In the Chronological Life
Application Study Bible (page 792), a commentator wrote this statement. “Although
God may not always spare us from troubles, He will lead us safely through them
if we follow Him wholeheartedly.” That is my God and I trust Him completely.
Will you trust the Lord today with
your life, the lives of your loved ones, and your future?
With God, there is no more fear or
dread.
For unto us a Son was born and
given whose name is Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father,
Prince of Peace. And there will be no end to the greatness of His government
and peace. With justice and righteousness, He will reign on David’s throne
forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty accomplished this. (Isaiah
9:6-7, my interpretation)
God is still in control.
We have security in Him for our rapidly
changing world.
Will you trust God?
