Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing; speak the word, but it will not stand, for God is with us.” Isaiah 8: 10, NKJV.
Gracious God, we give You thanks for the privilege of being called by Your name, and for the blessed assurance that You are with us. We praise You and give you thanks, in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
As I read this portion of Scripture, I received a “blessed assurance!” It gave me a renewed feeling of safety. It helped me to look beyond the gloom that surrounds us to the hope that is within us! I repeated one of my favorite statements of faith: “We are not victims,” “for God is with us[!]”
It is not hard to understand, why so many people, worldwide, and in our immediate society, Christians included, are suffering from depression. We tend to forget, who, and Whose, we are. We are prone to forget that “if God be for us” (Romans 8: 31), it does not matter who is against us! Hallelujah!
Here the prophet is making Israel aware that the alliances that they were forming with heathen nations would come to naught. He seems to be saying to them: “Do what you have to do; it will not help you. Make your plans against those who are seeking to be faithful to God, it will not materialize! Curse us if you choose, the curse will have no effect on us – because “God is with us[!]” Both Israel and Judah were God’s people, but Israel had formed alliances with heathen nations to fight against their own people. Here God, through His prophet, was reminding Judah, that as long as they remained faithful, God would be among them to defend them.
To give them this assurance, we find in the following chapter (7: 14), the prophet, speaking in the name of God, gave Judah a sign that a young woman, among them, would bear a child and call his name Immanuel, which would be the sign that God was with them.
You will remember that one of the names by which the Savior is referred to is, “Emmanuel,” which translated is, “God with us” (Matthew 1: 23). Therefore, this promise was dual in its fulfillment, with some variation. We know that one of the unique signs of Jesus being the Savior of the world, was that He would be born of a virgin. This sign was fulfilled in only one individual, Mary, the mother of Jesus, as attested to by the angel (20).
To Judah of old, as well as to God’s people in the twenty first century, the promise is the same, we need not fear what human beings can do to us. In Christ we have our fortress, our strong tower, our rock, our hiding place, our defender, and our Emmanuel. Therefore, we are invincible! Our bodies may suffer, but our inner-person will remain intact, if we focus on Who is among us fighting our battles for us!
I believe that in this day and age, this is a spiritually healthy attitude to assume. It would save us many panic and anxiety attacks. It might even help many who are suffering from hypertension to lower their blood pressure. I believe it would cut down on our medical bills dramatically, if whenever we face a situation, or an enemy, who threaten to destroy us, we would remember that our God, Creator, and Heavenly Parent, did not create us, and then abandon us as orphans, to face life on our own. He was with His people in the days of old, and He will be with us, until the end of the age!