Dan Strange encourages us from Isaiah 41 as we face a confusing world
In 1989 I won Mastermind … well, the Southend-on-Sea, 22nd Company Boys’ Brigade Mastermind Competition.
(Just for the record, my specialist subject: The history of the World Snooker Championship). In our chilly church hall we tried to make conditions as close to the TV show as possible: spotlight on the contestant’s face, the infamous black chair, and Neil Richardson’s iconic theme tune. That thumping beat invoked the march of an oncoming army, a drummer by the side of a scaffold, a pounding heartbeat, getting louder and louder all the time before the sudden destructive climax and ensuing silence. With good reason this theme was called Approaching Menace.
Doubts and fears
Approaching Menace could well be the soundtrack to many lives in the UK as we are faced with menaces that seem legion: political, global, technological, environmental. Feelings of fear, insecurity, uncertainty and plain dread are felt by many as their lives spiral out of control and they become increasingly ‘breathless,’ constricted by circumstances seemingly out of their control. For many in these situations, any thought of a god is far in the distance because a god, even if he/she/it exists, seems all too distant. God can’t help me, or won’t help me, but either way, this is not a god worthy of my worship.
As Christians, do we at times entertain similar thoughts? For aren’t we faced with these same challenges which just appear overwhelming. Where is our God in all this chaos?
Sovereign God
In Isaiah 41, the Lord recreates his own Mastermind scenario with himself as both interrogator and contestant. His specialist subject is the approaching menace of one from the East, Cyrus of Persia, who is rapidly conquering all before him and who is creating great fear and trembling among the watching nations, including Israel. As in a cartoon, this little fish has been eaten by a bigger fish which is about to be eaten by an even bigger fish. And the Lord’s first question is: ‘Who is behind this approaching menace?’(v.2), and the Lord’s first answer is: ‘I AM’ (v.4).
Here we have an unambiguous affirmation of the Lord’s sovereign might and right over this event, indeed over all events, past, present and future. He is behind all rulers and empires, whether despotic or benign. Immediately we find such an answer awkward and uncomfortable. And so it’s worth remembering our revision notes on another specialist subject: God’s sovereignty. God’s hand may be behind all things but God’s word is unambiguous in its affirmation that individuals and nations are responsible and accountable for their actions and are judged accordingly.
Ultimate explanation?
Then we contemplate that if the Lord God is not in total control and not the ultimate explanation for all events, then who or what is, for someone or something must always be an ultimate explanation. Is it that our God is subject to another personal god, to an impersonal fate, to a blind chance, to our ‘free’ decisions? Surely to entertain such a possibility is far more concerning, far more uncomfortable. If we are still in doubt concerning evidence for God’s sovereign reign over history, we can fast-forward to another interrogation, when the spokesperson of another all-conquering world empire, Pontius Pilate, asks Jesus: ‘Don’t you realise I have power either to free you or crucify you?’ Our Lord, bloodied and beaten and to all appearances a passive victim, replies: ‘You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above’ (John 19.11). Yes, we may not have all the answers, or know all the reasons – for we are not God– but surely it is a comfort to know that it is our Lord who truly is the Mastermind of history.
Worthless idols
Tragically, there are those who are blinded to this sovereign behind-the-scenes Lord and who only see the approaching menace. How do they respond? Well, in verses 5-7 of Isaiah 41 the story takes a darkly satirical turn, as we see the trembling nations shuffle onto the stage, looking for solace and encouragement from each other, giving tepid pep talks and looking for protection from their objects of devotion. These ‘work of human hands’ need a helping hand and some quick DIY to stop them falling over. And under interrogation about the approaching menace, they have no answers. They don’t know what has happened, what is happening or what will happen. They are ‘worthless’. Isaiah’s focus on idol construction here is unusual but profound. As one commentator puts it: the author seems to imply that identity can only be secured by a source truly external to one’s self. The deception of idolatry, of course, is that it provides such an external foundation; this is why the tangible presence of an idol statue is so important to pagans. But by focusing on idol making, Isaiah explodes that deception. The true existential source of idols is simply the shaky self. Idolatry is more commonly condemned in Scripture as false worship: placing one’s trust or allegiance in something other than God. But focusing on the practice of idol-making highlights an even deeper level of sin: the human attempt to supplant God as ultimate creator and definer of self.
There is a terrible vicious circle here as the one who believes their identity is a product of choice is the one most in need of a prefabricated identity. Idolatry and autonomy go together. Idols are shaky because they are created by shaky selves.
Comfort?
And yet God tells us that there is comfort to be found in the face of the approaching menace, and that comfort is to be found in the one behind the approaching menace, the Lord God who is the Mastermind of history. In v.8, it is God who speaks and God who names. God gives Israel three identities of increasing intimacy: ‘But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, you descendants of Abraham my friend.’ Israel is a servant nation, rooted in the history of God’s covenantal love (the title ‘Jacob’ is often used as a shorthand for the patriarchal tradition), and like Abraham they can even be called God’s friend. Note that all of these titles only make sense in the context of there being an external source: to be servant you need a master, to be chosen you need a chooser, to be a called a friend you need a friend. Moreover, in the living God we have an external source that is forever stable not shaky, and so our identity is stable not shaky.
Do not fear
This awesome Lord who orchestrates world events is the same Lord who takes hold of the hand of ‘little Israel’ and ‘worm Jacob’ and says: ‘Do not fear, I will help you, Do not be afraid’ (v.14). This Lord is our Lord.
And it is this Lord, who is the First and the Last, who in the first century walked on water to his disciples, disciples who were struggling against wind and waves. They are terrified, believing Jesus to be an approaching menace, but the Lord immediately comes to them and tells them to take courage and not be afraid, because he is the great ‘I AM’ who can control all things, who is behind all things, even the wind and the waves. And it is this Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ, who in his person and work takes on the identity of the suffering servant, chosen by God and the friend of sinners. As we are united to Christ, his identity becomes our own.
Therefore, over the wind and confusion of the claims of 21st-century false gods and false lords, and in the face of our continuing menaces, the Lord calls us, his ‘little worm’ church, not to be afraid, but to renew our strength. We are small, often tired, dispirited and seemingly defeated, but our identity is stable and secure, and so with confidence we can proclaim to the scared shaky selves all around us, the hope and certainty that the Lord of history offers. We call the nations to Jesus Christ.
Dan Strange is Director of Oak Hill College and will be speaking on the theme of God and Creation at Bible by the Beach 3 - 6 May 2019 see www.biblebythebeach.org for more info or call 07958 047140.
