Isaiah 26:1-9

The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace, because he trusts in You.

This verse stands out like a fragrant flower amidst the devastation Isaiah is projecting for this earth.  The sobering thing is that God is this devastation’s author. It appears that Isaiah’s eyes too had seen the glory of the coming of the Lord and He was indeed trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath were stored.

Behold, the Lord lays the earth waste, devastates it, distorts its surface and scatters its inhabitants. (Isaiah 24:1)

But what does this forecasted holocaust have to do with us; we who live within the fortified and impenetrable walls of the United States of America – arguably the most powerful and prosperous nation this earth has known? It may help the steadfastness of our minds to recall that it was idolatry that aroused the anger and wrath of God. If we define idolatry as the devotion and trust to things other than God for hope and meaning, how would the U.S. fair? Is it in God we trust today? Is it to Him this nation looks as its ultimate Commander in Chief? Is it to Him this nation looks in gratitude for its security and abundance?

Trust in the Lord forever, for in God the Lordwe have an everlasting Rock. For He has brought low those who dwell on high, the unassailable city; He lays it low, He lays it low to the ground, He casts it to the dust.

As we compose the verses of our song, we want to keep in mind that there is a day coming where God steps in and through judgement brings order and closure to this earth’s affairs. His means of laying low the so-called unassailable cites does not exactly inspire it yet God promises perfect peace to the steadfast of mind. Since we know neither the day nor the hour of this day we must be very intentional to recognize that His Truth is marching on whether we (or our nation) are marching along with it or not…..

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat; He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat: Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet! Our God is marching on.

We should be swift in not looking at the DOW’s performance and concluding this as evidence that our God is marching on. We should be swift in not looking at our armies and their overwhelming strength and thinking proudly how secure we are. If this is where our hearts are are we not the idolaters who will be sifted? Will it not be our unassailable walls that He is forced to bring low?

Here is a very practical and important question. Is steadfastness of mind and heart a gift given only to some or is it a trait of character that can be acquired and cultivated by those who will hear the word and heed it? Aren’t we to renew our minds as a prerequisite to transformation?  My proposal is that we own the responsibility we have for our minds and humbly acknowledge every way in which we are trusting in this world (and this nation) for our ultimate security and provision. We must volunteer our hearts to be sifted before that Great Day of ultimate sifting. Only He can expose our deluded and entrapped hearts. A sign that a work of significance by God is underway and that we are escaping the gravity of sin’s deluding influence is the longings of our hearts.

Indeed, while following the way of Your judgments, O Lordwe have waited for You eagerly; Your name, even Your memory, is the desire of our souls. At night my soul longs for You, indeed, my spirit within me seeks You diligently; for when the earth experiences Your judgments the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.

We all want peace but we don’t want to acquire it by making peace with a world that is accumulating the wrath of God and is slated for judgement. If God graciously shakes our lives (or our nation) we must be swift to recognize that it is only kindnesses such as this that He uses to brings us to repentance. He knows that it is better to be shaken now enabling us to let go of every sinful attitude and act which has encumbered our hearts. The martyred missionary Jim Elliott may have said it best….

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot loose.

I think of 1 Peter 1:6-7

In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ….

Father, teach us to abide in you and to swiftly recognize all the sovereign ways you work, including the work you accomplish through trials and suffering that might liberate us from our entanglements with this world. May we live here in the abundance of your Spirit to the extent that we exposes the poverty of trusting in material prosperity. Establish our trust in You Lord. Teach us how to steward a steadfastness of heart and mind. May our jubilant and dutiful feet bring you much honor and glory now and forever more. Amen.

I pray you might be swift to slow down and that your feet would lead you to a quiet place where you can take the time to read of the restored fortunes of God’s people which is the glorious flip side to the song in this portion of Isaiah’s dynamic prophecy.

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