Isaiah 10:20-23

I remember meeting one of our lecturers just before he was about to preach at a Wednesday night meeting at our College. I asked him how he was feeling. I’ll never forget his reply: ”Leaning hard brother!” The responsibility obviously weighed on him. But he also knew where to lean his weight.  Verses 20, 21 look forward to the day of Israel’s/Judah’s deliverance from Assyria and Babylon when a ”remnant will return” to the land. (The symbolic name of Isaiah’s first son, ‘Shear-Jashub’ means exactly that: 7:3) These survivors will no longer rely on foreign alliances, such as the one Ahaz made with the king of Assyria. He was the very one who ”struck them down” (20). Instead they ”will truly rely on the LORD”. ”They’ll lean on GOD” The Message. They will be ”leaning hard”. God does not want us to put our trust in idols, and He will do what is necessary to get His people to the place where they rely on Him alone. There is no true help for us apart from Him. We will simply be hurt by our idols.

God promised Abraham that his descendants would be as numerous as the ”sand on the seashore” (Gn.22:17). Here, at first glance, God seems to be cancelling his promise to Abraham (22, 23). But, in fact, the saving of a ”remnant” was to be the very means of fulfilling that promise. The preservation of a remnant would ensure the survival of the Jewish people, and from that remnant there would eventually come Jesus Christ, whose followers – Jew and Gentile alike – would indeed become as numerous as God said to Abraham (Romans 9:27,28).

God always keeps His promises. We may go through years when the fulfilment looks unlikely, but the Lord knows what He is doing. He is working out His plans, as we will see. For now, ‘believing is seeing’. Let’s ‘lean hard brother/sister’. He can take our weight.

Prayer: Lord God, I thank you that you are trustworthy; that you will never give way under the ‘strain’ of my life.