Isaiah 8:12
12 Say ['amar] ye not, A
confederacy, [qesher] to all them to whom this
people [`am] shall say, ['amar] A confederacy; [qesher]
neither fear [yare'] ye their fear, [mowra'] nor be afraid. [`arats] KJV-Interlinear
12
"You are not to say, 'It is a conspiracy!' In regard to all that this
people call a conspiracy, And you are not to fear what they fear or be in dread
of it. NASB
People look on the outward
in all things. The people of Judah were
looking at the massing of the armies of Syria and Samaria, and they were in
fear of the invasion they were certain was coming.
They did not look to God,
instead they looked to Assyria as their protector, and that is addressed here
in this verse.
When a number of people
work together for a common purpose, then that constitutes a conspiracy. In this case, the conspiracy was a common
plan and a common public opinion as to what was going on in the region.
The people were united
against God, or better explained, they were united by means of their negative
attitude toward God.
When a single person is
anti-God, then the problems that occur in their life are limited to that single
person. But when a nation is anti-God,
then the problems are multiplied on the magnitude of the entire nation.
And here the entire nation
was maintaining is anti-God direction, and that means certain judgment sooner
or later.
God was warning Isaiah
and everyone else through Isaiah, that they should not participate, and not
adopt the national view of this common threat.
They were to rely on God, and not man, but of course that advice was
being rejected.
When a person lacks
divine knowledge, then they will fear nearly everything. Life in itself becomes fearful. When anything goes wrong, then fear takes
over and that multiplies into anger and rage and blame, even anxiety or
terror. But fear is the underlying
emotion that drives an unstable and empty soul.
An empty soul is filled
easily with fear, and fear drives bad analysis, and that leads to bad
decisions.
People will turn to
blaming others, they will turn to things that alleviate their stress like drugs
or alcohol or even eating disorders, and it is all due to their lack of
doctrine, which by the way, they chose to ignore throughout their life.
It does take time to
learn knowledge. You cannot simply read
a few verses and obtain peace in just a few minutes. When in life have you
become an expert on something by reading just a few paragraphs?
In order to have a soul
filed with muscle and the capacity to handle life, you need a life's worth of
study and development.
That does not mean that
you need fifty years of study under your belt, but it does mean that you have
an opportunity every day, to study and learn and to grow up spiritually. And in so doing, your life will develop
spiritual resources that will enable you to handle life, no matter what
circumstances you will face.
But to procrastinate, day
in and day out, means that when those circumstances strike, you will not be
prepared, and fear and the stresses that accompany it, will be your companion
rather than poise and confidence and the means to get through your ordeal.
If you are twenty or
forty or eighty or whatever age you are, and you have not been committed to a
daily study, but you are still alive and breathing, then you have time and you
need to get your act together and begin your daily study. Which by the way, is not that difficult to
do. Simply confess your sins to get into fellowship, crack open your Bible, go
to the internet and open up a study page, and read. Then do that every day. Your inner spiritual growth will develop.
You do not need to start
in any particular place, because God does all of the work related to your inner
spiritual growth. You just need to be
dedicated to your daily studies. And
sooner or later, all of your questions will be answered.
And in that way, you will
not be like everyone else, who pursue their anti-God conspiracy and will end up
a total mess and failure.
