Isaiah 31:1-3 Realer than Real

 

Isaiah 31:1–3 (NASB95) 1 Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help And rely on horses, And trust in chariots because they are many And in horsemen because they are very strong, But they do not look to the Holy One of Israel, nor seek the LORD! . . .  3 Now the Egyptians are men and not God, and their horses are flesh and not spirit; So the LORD will stretch out His hand, And he who helps will stumble And he who is helped will fall, And all of them will come to an end together.

 

At the time our text was written, the nation of Judah was facing a military enemy that had worked its way through every nation in between them with no one really giving them a serious challenge.

Judah was in trouble, and everybody knew it.

The common answer of the time, and even today, was to form a military alliance with another nation that someday might face the same fate, which in this case was Egypt.

If you were king of Judah, what would you do?

Notice especially God’s words in verse 3: Now the Egyptians are men and not God, and their horses are flesh and not spirit;

This reminds me of when the Syrian army surrounded the city where Elisha was, and his servant saw them first and totally panicked.  1 Kings 6   And Elisha prayed that God would open the servant’s eyes, and he saw the mountains around them full of horses and chariots of fire.  Not horses of flesh but of spirit.

And Elisha was not afraid of an entire army that was out to get him.

When you see the events of the world, or even more so, the events of your life, are you aware of the presence of angels and of God working in your life.

I can’t give you a formula for making that happen, but I would say that you would need to turn down the noise around you.  God speaks in a still, soft voice.  If you’re not listening for it, you’re going to miss it a lot.