God gives grace to the humble

 

And will not God give justice to His elect, who cry out to Him day and night?  Will He delay long over them?  I tell you, He will give justice to them speedily.  Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?  --Luke 18:7-8

A musician who had been a lead guitarist for a well known rock group in the 70s used to tell the following story:  I was playing at a recording studio and Ry Cooder (a legendary guitarist--Google him if you don't know who he is) walked in.  Ry Cooder listened to my playing, and when the track was over he came and asked, "Can I have a look at your guitar?"  Flattered that the great Ry Cooder wanted to check out my guitar, I handed it over.  Ry played a few notes thoughtfully, handed the guitar back and said, "No, it wasn't the guitar..."

What a humbling moment.

Many of us are humbled quite often.  We are brought low by an expectation that we failed to meet, by words spoken by others, or by any number of other things.  Without some kind of encouragement, humility gives way to humiliation, and that gives way to defeat, destruction, and dissolution.  When we lose faith in ourselves, we often lose faith in our God. 

The nation of Israel had been humbled by God many times.  They had fallen into sin, and had received God's judgment.  Yet God always gave them hope.  This week I have read chapters in Isaiah that were meant to give them hope.  These messages of hope for Israel came in the form of God's warnings to those around her.  Yes, Israel had been defeated by her enemies, but it was God that had given them the means.  It was not Babylon's military power that had led them to victory over God's people, but rather it was God's hand that used Babylon to bring a measure of justice against Israel, and it was God's mercy that always brought Israel back.  "For the Lord will have compassion on Jacob and will again choose Israel, and will set them in their own land, and sojourners will join them and will attach themselves to the house of Jacob." (Isaiah 14:1)

The prophet Isaiah had many things to say about Israel's enemies.  In Isaiah 14:12-14, he attacked their hubris.  "How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn!  How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low!  You said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High'."

Many believe this passage actually describes Satan, as some translate the name Day Star as Lucifer, a name given to the devil.  I think it could have a double meaning, as many Bible passages do.  God may have used Isaiah to recount the fate of the fallen angel in his prophecy against Babylon and all of Israel's enemies.  "But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit.  Those who see you will start at you and ponder over you: Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms, who made the world like a desert and overthrew its cities, who did not let his prisoners go home?" (Isaiah 14:15-17)

In subsequent chapters Isaiah specifically calls out the nations that came against Israel from the north (Assyria), from the west (Phiistia), from the east (Moab), from the northeast (Damascus), from the Southwest (Egypt) and from those who sent mercenaries from afar (Cush).  When you read these accounts in Isaiah 14-19, you may not be familiar with the geographical regions, or the leaders that are called out by name.  What you should look for is the encouragement God gives for Israel.  

In the oracle against Moab (chapters 15 and 16), God says, "When the oppressor is no more, and destruction has ceased, and he who tramples underfoot has vanished from the land, then a throne will be established in steadfast love, and on it will sit in faithfulness in the tent of David one who judges and seeks justice and is swift to do righteousness." (Isaiah 16:4b-5).  In the oracle against Damascus (chapter 17), God says, "In that day man will look to his Maker, and his eyes will look on the Holy One of Israel.  He will not look to the altars, the work of his hands, and he will not look on what his own fingers have made, either the Ashirim or the altars of incense." (Isaiah 17:7-8).  In the oracle against Cush (chapter 18), God says, "All you inhabitants of the world, you who dwell on the earth, when a signal is raised on the mountains, look! When a trumpet is blown, hear! For thus the Lord said to me: I will quietly look down from My dwelling like clear heat in sunshine, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest."  In the oracle against Egypt (chapter 19), God continues the cloud metaphor, saying "Behold, the Lord is riding on a swift cloud." (Isaiah 19:1).  He further says, "Those who are pillars of the land will be crushed, and all who work for pay will be grieved." (verse 6), predicting economic collapse.  Yet even to Egypt there is hope: "And the Lord will strike Egypt, striking and healing, and they will return to the Lord, and He will listen to their pleas for mercy and heal them." (verse 22).

Just as God gave a warning to Babylon, comparing it to Lucifer in its impending doom, I believe each of the verses of encouragement in these passages look forward to a coming Messiah that will sit on a "throne established in steadfast love," will exhibit "faithfulness in the tent of David," and who "judges and seeks justice and is swift to do righteousness."  Does this not describe our Lord and Savior Jesus?  When we look to our Maker, and our eyes behold the Holy One, do we not see Jesus? Peter preached of Him in Acts 3:13-15, "The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers glorified His servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release Him.  But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and you killed the Author of Life, whom God raised from the dead.  To this we are witnesses."

And aren't we eagerly awaiting the return of Jesus "riding on a cloud" when "a trumpet is blown"?  1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 says, "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God.  And the dead in Christ will rise first.  Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.  Therefore encourage one another with these words."

Be encouraged, so that your humility does not turn to despair.  Stay humble, seeking both justice and mercy, for this is the will of God concerning you.