David Bahn – Reflections

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These devotions are part of the Follow the Word Bible reading program at St. John Lutheran Church in Cypress, Texas. This year we are reading through the Scriptures together, listening for how God speaks through his Word day by day. I hope you will join me on this journey.

Today’s readings are Isaiah 22-24; Psalm 31.

Isaiah 22:5-13

For the LORD God of hosts has a day
    of tumult and trampling and confusion
    in the valley of vision,
a battering down of walls
    and a shouting to the mountains.
⁶ And Elam bore the quiver
    with chariots and horsemen,
    and Kir uncovered the shield.
⁷ Your choicest valleys were full of chariots,
    and the horsemen took their stand at the gates.
⁸ He has taken away the covering of Judah.

In that day you looked to the weapons of the House of the Forest, ⁹ and you saw that the breaches of the city of David were many. You collected the waters of the lower pool, ¹⁰ and you counted the houses of Jerusalem, and you broke down the houses to fortify the wall. ¹¹ You made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you did not look to him who did it, or see him who planned it long ago.

¹² In that day the LORD God of hosts
    called for weeping and mourning,
    for baldness and wearing sackcloth;
¹³ and behold, joy and gladness,
    killing oxen and slaughtering sheep,
    eating flesh and drinking wine.
“Let us eat and drink,
    for tomorrow we die.”

God’s word through the prophet Isaiah (22:11) is a powerful indictment of misplaced trust. A day of calamity, tumult, and confusion was coming upon Jerusalem, and the people strengthened their walls and built reservoirs. Yet instead of turning to the LORD in repentance and seeking his mercy, they entrusted themselves to their own resources. The LORD says,

“But you did not look to him who did it, or see him who planned it long ago.”

Jerusalem wasn’t condemned for building a reservoir. They were condemned for trusting the reservoir instead of the God who provides the water. Rather than seeking his mercy and help, they pushed him so far into the background that he was scarcely a factor in their lives, even as calamity approached.

Every generation builds reservoirs.

We who follow Jesus are no different. Do we worry more about health insurance than seeking God’s healing hand? Are we more concerned about retirement accounts, politics, medicine, military strength, or technology than the God who gives these gifts? There is nothing wrong with any of these provisions. The danger comes when we begin trusting the gifts more than the Giver.

Misplaced trust eventually leads somewhere. God had called his people to weep and mourn, but instead they chose to “eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” This is the hopelessness of life without God. It is the philosophy of people who have placed their hope in themselves rather than in the One who alone can save.

Christians live differently because Christ has come to redeem us. He gave his life to save us and rose from the dead to give us a living hope. Yet there are times when the Lord uses calamity, tumult, and confusion to turn our eyes away from ourselves and back to him. When we finally discover the limits of our own reservoirs, we also discover the abundance of his grace. He delights to come to our aid and provide a far greater salvation than anything we could ever provide for ourselves.