August 31: Thoughts on Isaiah 2:22

"Stop trusting in man, who has but a breath in his nostrils. Of what account is he?"
~ Isaiah 2:22

Chapter 2 of Isaiah talks about the Day of the Lord that is coming, in which God's glory will be revealed and and humankind will be humbled, a day in which "the eyes of the arrogant man will be humbled and the pride of men brought low; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day" (v. 11). The Day of the Lord is a day in which men will throw away their idols and hide from God, just as Adam and Eve hid from God because of their sin against Him.

But we can't really hide our sin from God, can we? Sure, we can keep our sins from others, we can maintain our perfect image. On the outside we can wear perfectly spotless white clothes, put on our makeup perfectly, and iron our jeans until they have that dorky little crease, but if the condition of our heart is not right, we aren't fooling God. He knows us intimately, and He can see past the image we put forth to others right to the center of our being. Rest assured, you can't hide your sin from the Lord. He knows everything, including what you did last summer (TM).

The craziest part about this little revelation is this: it's actually good news! You'd think that would be bad, that we can't disguise our sin from God, but it actually isn't, and here's why. When we sin, we know we sinned, and God knows we sinned. This isn't like breaking one of your parents' rules, where you go through the awkward stage of how to tell them what you did, because God already knows. Doesn't that make confession at least ten times easier? God already knows what you did wrong; you just need to confess it to Him and tell Him you're sorry, and because He's faithful and just, He'll forgive you (1 John 1:9).

So no matter what you've done, there are two important things to realize here:

1. God already knows about it.
2. God will forgive you if you tell Him you're sorry and ask for His forgiveness.

Now, to the actual Scripture that started this devotional. Isaiah 2:22 is telling us to stop putting our trust in other people, because in the end, people aren't very important compared to eternity. Isaiah isn't telling us not to trust other people. Instead, he's telling us that ultimately, though we trust other people, they're not as important as the Lord, and they are going to let us down eventually because no one is perfect except God. There is a difference between trusting someone and putting your trust in that person. While we should trust other people in our lives who have earned it, we should never put our trust fully in anyone but God. We can't, for instance, trust anyone but God to provide our salvation.

We should trust in the Lord, not in fallible human beings. People will only let us down, but the Lord is good and faithful and steadfast, and He's always true to His Word.