Seeing God's Power

September 22, 2022

Isaiah 41:6 - “They help each other and say to their companions, “Be strong!”

This scripture from Isaiah is from the time when Cyrus of Persia was expanding his empire. He had already conquered all the countries to the north and east and was now threatening Babylon. So Isaiah is telling of his image from God of how God was calling all the nations to come around Him and asked them a question, “Who is it that has stirred up Cyrus to carry out this conquest?” and the answer is Yahweh. The armies of Cyrus start approaching the nations and the people start panicking and they start calling on their gods to protect them. 

Then our part of the scripture comes in. Isaiah pictures the goldsmiths and the other craftsmen helping and encouraging each other as they work overtime to meet the demand for more idols and tell each other to Be Strong!

At first I thought this was a strange scripture for today, because it isn’t about being strong for God. They are talking about being strong as they build idols to other gods! But you have to read back a little bit more in the passage to see that the reason they were working so hard was because they had seen God, and His power and they were afraid. They were so scared by this encounter with God that they had to encourage each other to go on.  Instead of surrendering to God after seeing Him in his glory and majesty, they turned from God and made themselves more idols of gold. 

There are still people who see all of God’s power and glory and STILL reject it. They make their own gods. 

Do we do that when our backs are up against a wall? Do we turn to our friends for support instead of talking to God? There’s nothing wrong with getting your friend’s advice when you are trying to make a decision, that’s not what I’m saying. But if you find your strength from anything besides God, you’ll fail. Your friends might encourage you for a little while, but God wants us to look to Him, not anyone else, for our strength.