Musings on Isaiah

For my Old Testament class I have to read the entire Old Testament this semester. I started reading in two places to have some variety, and right now I'm in 1 Samuel and Isaiah. This past weekend I had been crazy busy with art of course, and the critique was today so I'll be putting up some pictures soon. I had been working pretty much non-stop Friday through Sunday in the 2D lab where we have class because it has the best workspace, and two other girls from my class were in there working with me. We got out a book on CD from the library and were listening to it to pass the time which was a great idea. And now I'm back in my room, just finishing up a drawing for class tomorrow, and I had the great idea to start listening to the Bible on my computer; kill two birds with one stone right? It's really the best kind of listening because my hands can be busy but my mind focused.

As I was listening, a passage in particular stuck out to me because it was going along the lines of some of the things that had been running around my head lately, talking about the doctrine of election and the presidential election...I had seen and heard some comments that were slightly disturbing to me in that they questioned God's judgment and control..."God would never want HIM in office" and so forth. I am sure you are all familiar with this. And I don't want to really focus on the political aspect because I'm not going to pretend to know what I'm talking about...but I love how I can find so many similar themes from the Old Testament all around me. And I was thinking of all the wicked kings of old that had ruled throughout Israel's history and how God had allowed them to rule, particularly because of his covenant with David.

But anyway, then I heard this

It's Isaiah 37:21-29. And my teacher had JUST been talking today about Sennacherib leading the Assyrians against Hezekiah, one of the few godly kings of Judah. And the part that struck me was this:

"Have you not heard?
Long ago I ordained it.
In days of old I planned it;
now I have brought it to pass,
that you have turned fortified cities
into piles of stone."

Sennacherib is out there boasting about how he's going to crush them all "and their little god too!" and the Lord is like, "Hellooooo you think you are so amazing, but I'm the one who even let you defeat all those other people in the first place! I am the One, I am the One who brought to pass all your victories and now your time is up and I'm going to crush you"

I mean, if God is expressly saying here that he ordained for Sennacherib, who we can all agree is one pretty bad dude, to rule and make war and defeat and destroy so many people, and that God is not saying, "oh darn it, that Sennacherib won again! I really wish he wasn't in power...oh well nothing I can do about it..." - if God has already ordained and brought to pass some pretty bad people like him, then I have no worries about our future ahead and whatever may come to pass. Certainly if I were in Israel I would not be jumping for joy that Sennacherib is head of the Assyrian army. Of course I'm not particularly pleased that a person with so many beliefs that I'm against is in charge. But I know that God has ordained the days ahead for us, and if he can use someone as evil as Sennacherib for his purposes, then I have nothing to fear.

Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood since the earth was founded?

He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth,
and its people are like grasshoppers.
He stretches out the heavens like a canopy,
and spreads them out like a tent to live in.

He brings princes to naught
and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.

No sooner are they planted,
no sooner are they sown,
no sooner do they take root in the ground,
than he blows on them and they wither,
and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.

"To whom will you compare me?
Or who is my equal?" says the Holy One.

Lift your eyes and look to the heavens:
Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one,
and calls them each by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
not one of them is missing.

Why do you say, O Jacob,
and complain, O Israel,
"My way is hidden from the LORD;
my cause is disregarded by my God"?

Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.

Isaiah 40:21-28