Isaiah 31:1-3 – Set our heart and affection on God

In the previous chapter, Isaiah had spoken about Judah seeking the help of Egypt against the threat of Assyria. Here the prophet once again pronounced misery for the people who would trust the Egyptians more than they would God. As far as God was concerned, their move to seek Egypt’s help to deal with the nation’s plight was a major mistake. In their anguish, they were not thinking straight. So here God through Isaiah strongly denounced the way they tried to solve their national crisis. In verses 1-3, Isaiah showed them why it was foolish of them to turn to the Egyptians and not to God.

Turning to Egypt was not God’s plan for them. In seeking an alliance with Egypt, they failed to consider their faithful God in their plan. And by not factoring God in their plan they had demonstrated how myopic they were. How could the wisdom of Egypt be compared with the wisdom of God? Didn’t they know the finality of God’s authority? What about God’s compelling power and undeniable justice? Obviously, Judah did not think of all these when they chose to lean on Egypt. Their myopia was seen in how they had focused on the many strong horses and chariots Egypt had. They did not consider the Holy One of Israel in their plight and did not seek the help of Yahweh, their covenant God.  

 

Their alliance was doomed to fail from the start. Humanly, this might have seemed like a good option. To have another nation’s help would naturally argue that one would have a back-up force. They failed to see that the Egyptians were mere men, and their horses were mere physical animals. These were unlike the supernatural God with supernatural power. God allowed the threat of Assyria with the aim to get them to think about returning to Him. Obviously, they could not see God’s hand in all their experiences. They could never resist God and His plan for them. In the end both Judah and Egypt were staring down at failure because they were unwittingly resisting God’s plan.  

 

Judah’s problem rests in their focus. They were not focusing on God but on their plight. That resulted in them being distracted, and led to shallow thinking, and inevitably wrong decisions. If their minds were on God and how He had brought them through the many tough oppositions, they would probably have acted very differently. Their experience is a lesson for us. Like Paul said in Colossians 3:1-2, we are admonished to  “…keep seeking the things above, … and to set our mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.”  We must set our minds, hearts, and affection on God and cultivate a heavenly perspective. One thing we can constantly do is to follow what the Psalmist said in Psalm 119:148, “My eyes anticipate the night watches, that I may meditate on Your word.” Or as Eugene Peterson puts it, “I stayed awake all night, prayerfully pondering your promise.” We must focus on God and ponder on Him and His Word.  Be constant in our reflection and not only once in a while.