Trusting God

[Isaiah 50:6-7] ... I (Isaiah) did not hide my face from mocking and spitting. Because the Sovereign LORD helps me, I will not be disgraced. ...
[Isaiah 50:10] Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the word of his servant? Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God.

Isaiah had security in knowing God. He knew that he didn't need to fear anyone and that he could always rely on God. He talks about how it is the same, or can be the same, for us.

In the modern world, we don't so much as get faced with whipping and spitting. At least not in Australia. But we can get faced with alienation, disowner ship, name-calling and other stuff just because of our faith and the way that we act. But the thing is that we don't need to fear that. God is so much bigger than anything people throw at us. At church the other night, we talked about putting God into perspective. Often our problems can be so overwhelming and so big, but when we recognise how big God is, the problems seem smaller in size. They're still there but they're not so overwhelming. Isaiah knew that and that's why he wasn't afraid to face people.

He also knew that we can put our whole trust in God. Israel had been going through a pretty rough time with prideful, arrogant kings and being sent in to exile, but God made a way for them to get home ... to their land and to him. In the verse, it says, 'let him who walks in the dark, who has no light ...' which basically means someone walking around in distress, confusion, trouble etc. We need to trust God in these times.

I read this allegory once about a crippled lamb who's walking/climbing/limping through trials to get to the high places where a new life, without a crippled leg, awaits her. There are times when the fog sets in and she can't see her leader at all but she can hear him. Sometimes in times of darkness, we freak out because we don't know where God is, and that's why Isaiah encourages us to trust in God because he promises to always be there with you.