Isaiah 10:24-34 – In God’s refining process

While God would use Assyria to discipline His people, He urged them not to be disheartened. Why? Because the discipline would only be for a season and purpose. For when He was done using Assyria as His instrument of discipline, He would also deal with them as He did with Egypt in the past. Tough as God’s dealing with His people might be, it was all done out of His love for them. For those whom God loves, He chastens. Our comfort is this: God is never out to destroy us. No matter what tough measure He uses to deal with us, He has a purpose in all of them. His intention is always for our good.   

Isaiah substantiated what he said with two historical incidences where God brought them through two seemingly impossible victories. The first was the victory that Israel had over the Midianites. This was a reference to Judges 7:19-21 wherewith 300 men,  Gideon with a God-given strategy routed the enemies. The second was the victory recorded in Exodus 14 where the people of Israel were helplessly caught between Pharaoh’s army in hot pursuit and the Red Sea. At that point, the people of Israel were not even capable of fighting, let alone fighting back. Yet God used the Red Sea to swallow up Pharaoh’s army and destroyed them totally. With reference to these two incidences, God was assuring His people to stay confident in Him despite the discipline. Like them, we should also take heart and remember that whatever means God uses to deal with us, He only has our best interest at heart.   

  

Verses 28-32 describe how relentlessly the Assyrians would pursue Israel. Step by step they would pursue God’s people. They arrogantly hounded Israel without realizing that they themselves were scheduled to face the ax of God themselves. While they were pursuing Israel, they did not know that God’s ax was laid at the root of their pride, ready to hew them off. The power they wielded would soon be diminished by God Himself. Like branches of a tree being chopped off, they would come crashing down. Their pride would not be able to hold up against God. Like a thick forest, they would be lopped off by God’s sharp ax. None could resist God’s dealing, not even the enemy.

 

At the heart of God’s dealing with us, it has always been His deep love. While God accepts us the way we are, yet He loves us far too much to leave us the way we are. He has a far better plan for each one of us. Jesus tells us that God, like the careful vinedresser, will cut off every fruitless branch. But every branch that bears fruit, He will prune so that it will bear much more fruit. Tough circumstances we face in life are God’s cutting and pruning processes. Through them, God is pruning and refining us. When He is through with us, like Job, we shall come forth pure as gold. So, learn to yield to God’s refining processes in our lives.