This is what the Sovereign Lord , the Holy One of Israel, says: ‘In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it. You said, “No, we will flee on horses.” Therefore you will flee! You said, “We will ride off on swift horses.” Therefore your pursuers will be swift! A thousand will flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you will all flee away, till you are left like a flagstaff on a mountaintop, like a banner on a hill.’ Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him! Isaiah 30:15-18 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/isa.30.15-18.NIVUK The two things that Isaiah mentions here might surprise us. The first is quietness. Quietness. Imagine that! In a culture when expressing our opinion, no matter how utterly wrong or ill-informed or offensive, is seen as a basic human right, the Lord tells us that quietness is our strength? How can this be! A strong leader is not silent, right? No, they are forceful, demanding, loud. At least, that's what our culture would have us believe. But it isn't true. Have you ever been in one of those situations where someone enters a room and, out of respect, everyone else falls silent? Would you say such a person is weak? Would you say Jesus is weak? He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. Isaiah 53:7 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/isa.53.7.NIVUK When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer. Then Pilate asked him, ‘Don’t you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?’ But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge – to the great amazement of the governor. Matthew 27:12-14 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/mat.27.12-14.NIVUK In situations like this, the easiest thing to do is shoot our mouths off. Weak, foolish people do it every day. It's a much stronger, wiser person who learns to hold their tongue (Proverbs 15:2; Proverbs 17:28). Have you ever stood in a cave or under a bridge or anywhere else with an echo? What happens you take young children there and they discover the echo? You end up with a massive headache, right? That is exactly what is happening with our country right now. Everyone has something to say. Everyone has an opinion. But tell me this: how much of it is fact? How much of it is useful? How much of it is constructive? Actually, not a lot. So let me tell you that the worst thing we can do as Christians is add to the noise. Now is the time for us to be calm, sober-minded and alert (1 Peter 5:7-9).
If we have information to believe and to pass on, let me give you the means of testing whether we should do it or not, based on Paul's famous words in Philippians 4:8. Ask yourself these questions: * Is it true? How do you know it's true? Is the source reliable? * Is it accurate? Is it based in fact or just someone's ideas? * How will people react if they hear it? How do I want them to react? What can I do to produce this reaction? Don't pass on theories, conjecture, rumour, guesses or anything else of that nature. Our world has enough of them already. We are Christians. They are not part of our way of life and must be rejected. The world has enough noise. What it needs now are quietly confident people who serve their God, seek His mind and speak wisely and appropriately. Don't add to the noise. Amplify the silence. That is true strength. The second thing that Isaiah mentions is trust, which clearly here refers to trust in God. Many atheists view trusting any spiritual being, but especially our God, as a weakness, as if we are cripples dependent on a crutch, or sick people depending on life support. This is utter foolishness. It's better to think of a Christian like a fireman going into a burning building to save people. No-one thinks he is weak if he uses an oxygen mask. This is essential equipment that can save both the fireman and those he is seeking to save. Trust in God is like an oxygen mask. It gives us everything we need to survive. The Lord wanted the Israelites to trust Him because He could save them from the threat of the Assyrians. He proved it with Hezekiah. He had proved it time and time again in their history. All they had to do was trust in Him again. Let me use another illustration. One time when we were in the Philippines, we had an elderly friend, Bill, with us. Now Bill was a real character. He came out to Asia for our wedding aged 83 years old, and that was his first ever commercial flight. He also tried snorkelling for the first time because, in his words, "I want to see the fishes." Well, he put on his swimming trunks and put on the mask and so on - just imagine a ghostly pale 83 year old man in swimming trunks... or better still, don't. He stuck his head under the water to see the fishes... and nearly drowned! Why? He forget to keep the air pipe vertical and his mask filled with water. He stood up quickly enough and spat water out like a really pasty-looking fountain. He forgot to keep his air pipe vertical. Every one of us - every last one - is being hit with wave after wave of suffering from Coronavirus. The ones who make it through this with everything intact will be those who trust in God - whose air pipes point to Him. As the well-known proverb says: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/pro.3.5-6.NIVUK Our leaders are not in control of this outbreak. Our politicians are playing catch-up. We shouldn't be surprised. They are only human. But our God is in control. He knows what He is doing even if we have no clue. He has His plans even if all of ours are on hold. Trust Him. Who else can you trust? Right now there are so many conspiracy theories about where this virus has come from and what their intentions are - and, of course, they cannot be good. But God is Lord over all of this and His intention is always for our good (Romans 8:28). God can use this - even this - for His good purpose. We can't see what and we can't see how, but we know Who. The only way go make it through to the other side of this situation is to trust God. So will you do that today, right now?
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