Trust in God, Not in Your Schemes and Idols

Isaiah 31

Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and who depend on horses! They trust in the abundance of chariots and in the large number of horsemen. They do not look to the Holy One of Israel and they do not seek the Lord. (Isa 31:1)

Main Idea: God declares his judgment on those who trust in idols and proclaims his wisdom and power to save his people—those who cast away their idols.

1. Woe to Those Who Trust in Egypt Rather Than God (31:1-3)
   1. The key question: In what are you trusting?
   2. Impressed by Egypt’s wisdom and power, forgetting God
2. The Greatness of God’s Power Both to Destroy and to Deliver (31:2-5)
   1. God’s credentials as a Savior
   2. Like a lion, God will devour; like a mother eagle, God will protect.
3. A Call to Repentance: Turn from Idols to the Living God (31:6-7).
   1. Return to the God against whom you have rebelled.
   2. You will defile and discard your idols.
4. Thus Says the Lord: Assyria Will Fall (31:8-9).
   1. Clear decree: Assyria will fall.
   2. A sword not of man will devour.

Woe to Those Who Trust in Egypt Rather Than God

Isaiah 31:1-3

Isaiah 31 proclaims quite a plain message to Judah in Isaiah’s day and a timeless message to the church of Jesus Christ: God is putting all his power on the line to save his people; woe to you if you trust anything but him. In Isaiah’s day King Hezekiah and his counselors were tempted to trust in Egypt for military salvation from Assyria, as we’ve seen in Isaiah 30. The powerful Egyptian cavalry and the wise Egyptian counselors were an alluring false “savior.”

God spoke these oracles to Judah through the prophet Isaiah while Hezekiah was seeking to purify their religion, getting rid of the evil high places where the Jews were worshiping in a pagan manner. Unfortunately, Hezekiah’s counselors, terrified of Assyria, felt they needed human help to survive. So they thought the best thing they could do was to send gold down to Egypt to hire Egyptian cavalry. And this deeply offended God. In Isaiah 31:1 God speaks a word of “Woe” against those who trust in Egypt’s powerful and plentiful horses and chariots but who do not “look to” (trust in) the Holy One of Israel for salvation. In verses 2-3 God is essentially comparing résumés with Egypt, saying, “I also am wise . . .”! “Also”? God’s wisdom soars infinitely above that of every man that ever lived (Rom 11:33). If Hezekiah or any of his counselors needed wisdom, they should have asked God, who gives wisdom to all generously and ungrudgingly (Jas 1:5), not sought the “wise” counselors of Pharaoh who “give stupid advice” (Isa 19:11). Also, God’s power extends infinitely beyond that of any human warrior, even one riding a horse! The Egyptians are mere mortals, and their horses are mere flesh (31:3). But God speaks and never retracts a single word; he acts and brings about disaster. He is the only one to fear and the only one to seek.

The Greatness of God’s Power Both to Destroy and to Deliver

Isaiah 31:2-5

God is able to bring disaster on everyone who opposes him and his people, no matter how mighty they may seem (vv. 2-3). His indomitable courage and power are pictured in verse 4 as a lion that roars over his prey, completely unconcerned by the shepherds who seek to intimidate him. The lion keeps tearing and devouring, and the shepherds can do nothing to make him afraid. So it is with God and his enemies: when God wants to devour, nothing in heaven or on earth can stop him. Conversely, when God wants to protect, he is like a hovering mother eagle that cannot be moved from protecting her young (v. 5). The omnipotent Ruler of the universe is everything—humanity is nothing by comparison. So why trust in Egypt for deliverance?

A Call to Repentance: Turn from Idols to the Living God

Isaiah 31:6-7

Based on these words of woe and of assurance, God now calls on his people to turn away from their idols in repentance and to return to him (v. 6). Assyria would not have even been coming had it not been for their idolatries and sinful rebellion. His people’s hearts were “far from” God (Isa 29:13), and they had acted it out by open rebellion. Now through the prophet God was calling on them to return to him. Essential to this is rejecting the idols of silver and gold their sinful hearts had devised and their sinful hands had crafted. God is at war with idolatry throughout the book of Isaiah, and the battle was far from over.

Thus Says the Lord: Assyria Will Fall

Isaiah 31:8-9

God gives a final and clear prediction of the fate of Assyria: They will fall by the sword, but it will not be held by a human warrior. God will supernaturally intervene and slaughter Assyria, and Egypt’s “help” will be displayed to have been utterly useless. In God every single human being lives and moves and exists (Acts 17:28), and when God wills the death of either a single individual or an entire empire, nothing can stop it. Assyria will walk into a raging inferno of wrath in Jerusalem, and they will be completely consumed (v. 9). Beyond their clear defeat at Jerusalem, Assyria’s “rock” (their citadel, even their empire) will “pass away” (v. 9).

Applications

As it was then, so it is for us; we face earthly trials that expose the true basis of our confidence, our true “savior”:

Health: When you are faced with the terror of a life-threatening disease, your true “savior” will float to the surface in your thought process. If as you try to sleep, you comfort yourself with thoughts of the advances of medical science, that is your “savior.”

Finances: When the economic experts are predicting a severe recession, and your company has already laid off 30 percent of the workforce with more layoffs expected, when you look ahead to the cloudy future, your true “savior” will float to the surface of your thoughts. If your dominant thought is, At least I have a year’s worth of salary saved up, then that is your savior.

Our God is a jealous God; he wants to be our only Savior. He wants our entire trust to be placed solely in him. As Joseph Hart wrote in 1759 in his hymn, “Come Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy”: “Lo the incarnate God ascended pleads the merit of his blood. Venture on him, venture wholly, let no other trust intrude.” Any trust but in Jesus (the “incarnate God”) is as unwelcome as a home-wrecking lover vying for the affections of your spouse. To purify our trust, God brings smaller trials into our life to show us what we are really trusting in. Ultimately, we must learn through every trial on earth to trust wholly in Jesus Christ. Small trials (a winter flu, a marital conflict, a fender-bender, losing your wallet, etc.) are training opportunities for the final one: death and judgment. We must seize every one of those trials to purify our faith and rest on Christ alone.

Nations also must learn to trust in God ultimately for “national security.” It is certainly wise for governments to promote their national defense by military strength, but Isaiah 31 teaches us never to trust in that strength for ultimate security. The world governments spent $1.6 trillion on their militaries in 2015; the United States spent $596 billion, 36 percent of the world’s total (Perlo-Freeman et al., “Trends”). It is very easy for Christians in the US to trust in the power of the military and not in the Lord.

Reflect and Discuss

1. How do we apply the lessons of God’s “woe” on alliances with Egypt to our daily lives, especially during trials?
2. What are some common trials that we face, and what would be the equivalent of an “alliance with Egypt” in each of those cases (e.g., medical issues, financial troubles, marital problems, parenting problems, unemployment, single people seeking a spouse, childless couples seeking a child)?
3. How could a nation’s military spending become an idol that lures people away from trusting in the Lord?
4. Egypt was renowned for her wise men and counselors. What is God saying about his wisdom in verse 2? Why is it easy to forget how wise God is and to seek wisdom from other sources?
5. What does this image of God as a dauntless lion (v. 4) teach you about him? How can God’s complete fearlessness before humans give us courage as well?
6. How are God’s wisdom and power—on display when he slaughtered the Assyrians—even more on display at the cross of Christ?
7. How would you define an idol? What are modern versions of idols?
8. How can we throw our idols away in actual practice? What would cause us to hate our idols and reject them, returning to a love relationship with Christ?
9. How does this chapter show us the amazing power of predictive prophecy?
10. As you prayerfully reflect on what you are trusting in the most, how could Psalm 139:23-24 help you see your own idolatry?