Isaiah 17: Turn to God in times of comfort
Isaiah 17 prophesies the destruction of Damascus and the northern Tribe, Israel. Damascus was one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world and the proud capital of Syria. God then used the Assyrians to invade and demolish this stronghold.
Verses 7 & 8: “In that day people will look to their Maker and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel. They will not look to the altars… or to the works of their hands…” and verse 10, “for you have forgotten the God of your salvation and have not remembered the Rock of your refuge.” For all of us individually, and an entire nation in this case, God uses severe punishments and trials to get at our cold, dead hearts. This has been a main theme throughout Isaiah.
With things going relatively well in my own life right now, I still find much value in reading Isaiah. During the times of depression, hopeless, and anger, I felt like God would never help me despite my praying. Now I can look back and realize at those times knowing that God was working at my heart. He answered my prayers but not on the quick timeframe that I wanted. May I not fall back into looking to the work of my own hands. May I not forget the God of my salvation. May I pray for wisdom from God and turn to the Rock of my refuge for all matters both small and great. Rid the pride from my heart.
When things are going seemingly well with little concern for health, food, friendship, etc, it’s in those times, one must especially turn to God. The devil uses the things of this world to distract us from worshipping God. Isaiah shows us a correlation: when things are good, we turn away from God and when suffering happens, we turn to God. When Christ came into the world, he preached and healed the sick, the poor, the fatherless and scorned the proud, the rich, and those like the self-righteous pharisees. One must be very concerned and cautious if you are comfortable in this temporary life.