Isaiah
42 reminds me of a phrase my dad said regularly, “It’s all in
your head”. Although that was his way of denying reality, there is
some truth to this idea. Many medical students believe they have
every disease they study because some symptoms are fairly common.
Men tend to ignore pain and put off visits to the doctor, but the
truth is, medical tests do not give you a disease, they just confirm
a problem. In today’s chapter God is speaking to the Jewish people
about the clinical trial and testing and diagnosis. God begins with
the cure. “Here is my Servant,
whom I uphold… I will put My Spirit on Him, and He will bring
justice to the nations… In faithfulness He will bring forth
justice; He will not falter or be discouraged“.
God’s Servant is Christ, “In
His teaching the islands will put their hope“.
Isaiah describes the coming Messiah this way, “A
bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not
snuff out“. Have you had some
rough treatment? Is your faith being snuffed out?
Isaiah
next reads the patient’s chart out load, “This
is what God the LORD says… I, the LORD…called you in
righteousness; I
will take hold of your hand“.
His bedside manner is full of compassion. Now He begins explaining
the treatment option that does not depend on manmade prescriptions.
“I will keep you
and will
make you to be a covenant“.
God says that He will do all that is needed for His people to be “a
light for the Gentiles, to
open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison“.
He adds, “I will not yield My
glory to another“. In
arrogance, the Jewish nation turned from God to idols. For the next
700 years Israel tried self medicating against the inherited disease
called sin. God had given them instructions to follow and they
partially obeyed because of human frailty. Ultimately God took on
human form to deliver His people. God speaks of the new prognosis
that will be received after Messiah is given, “the
former things have taken place, and new things I declare…
Sing to the LORD a new song“.
Are you treating your own symptoms?
Israel’s
medical history continues, “For
a long time I have kept silent… and held Myself back“.
God allows His people to have free will to confirm our need for a
Savior. “I will lead the blind
by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide
them… I will not forsake them“.
It is not until we accept that our condition is terminal that we are
ready to embrace the remedy. “Hear,
you deaf; look, you blind.”
Maybe you are one that believes it is all in your head, “You
have seen many things, but you pay no attention…
you do not listen“.
He asks each of us to pay attention to our own life, “Which
of you will listen to this or pay close attention in time to come?”
Isaiah asks a final question to prep the patient for full recovery,
“Was it not the LORD, against
whom we have sinned?” Friend,
are you ready to accept your condition, or will you continue to
believe you will get better on your own? The chapter ends with this
conclusion, “yet they did not
understand… they
did not take it to heart“.
Romans 10:9 offers this script for total healing for us today, “If
you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’, and believe in your
heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved“.
My dad was almost right; it is all in your heart!