Isaiah 30:1-17.  Today’s reading didn’t seem to have too much confusing stuff.  This message of warning is to the Israelites or at least to the southern kingdom of Judah.  Remember that this part of Isaiah was probably written by Isaiah around 705-701 BC.  Judah was about to be invaded by Assyria and Hezekiah the king of Israel had made an alliance with several local kingdoms including Egypt. There were two problems with this alliance.  First God did not want Judah to trust in human alliances he wanted them to trust him to take care of them.  Second Egypt had a new king or Pharaoh who was busy dealing with internal fighting in Egypt so he was in no position to go out and fight Assyria.

So the people of Judah are the rebellious children, they were making plans that did not come from God, and in fact were directly disobedient to God.  In fact they already had sent leaders to two leading cities in Egypt, Zoan and Hanes.  This plan was going to lead to embarrassment though because Egypt was gong to be of no use to them.  The alliance was a double waste because these ambassadors had to travel through the dangerous southern desert, the Negev.  And the money they were going to use to bribe Egypt to help was going to be wasted when Egypt would not show up for the invasion.  So the whole plan was a dangerous waste in addition to being disobedient.  You may remember from the reading in Joshua that Rahab was the name of the woman who helped the Israelite spies in Jericho.  This is not the same Rahab, in fact this is not even a person.  In those days there was a legend of a great sea monster (think the Kraken if you’ve seen the Pirates of the Caribbean movies).  That animal was named Rahab.  In verse 8 Isaiah describes Rahab with a Hebrew word that means to stop or sit still.  Isaiah used this mythical creature to describe Egypt.  In this case we see that the great monster, Egypt, will do nothing.

In verses 9-11 we see that the Jewish people were pretty prideful, they even told the prophets that they did not want to hear any more about God.  But God is not easily ignored and so Isaiah warned the people that this attitude was going to be a disaster. Like a big brick wall falling suddenly with not a single brick left after it fell.  The people though had their own plan, if they were invaded they would jump on some horses and run.  Ironically God told them that they would run, not on horses but from them when the Assyrians came on horses.  The result would be that some Israelites would be left dead on the hilltops as a reminder of how fierce the Assyrians were.

You know I like it that the Israelites were called rebellious children.  I like it because first it tells me that God bothered to give them instructions.  That shows me that God cares.  Next I like it because God noticed when they disobeyed, again a sign that God cares.  And Third, I like it that they were called children of God.  And guess what, God knew they would be rebellious when He made them his children.  That tells me that God loved them and loves us very much.  Look too at verse 15.  There in the middle of this warning is the solution to their problems.  They just needed to return to God and kick back and watch the action.  They just needed to be quiet and trust.   We need to do the same things today.  We need to do what ever it is that God has asked us to do and not worry so much about how it’s all going to turn out.  Lord help me be still, help me be quiet and listen, help me trust, and when I am going the wrong way help me return to you.  Thank you for caring.  Thank you for noticing our lives and for sending help.  Help me never reject your words in my life.