Bad ways of facing disaster

 This week's verses are Isaiah 22:12-19:

Therefore on that day the Lord God of armies called you to weeping, to wailing,
To shaving the head, and to wearing sackcloth.
Instead, there is joy and jubilation,
Killing of cattle and slaughtering of sheep,
Eating of meat and drinking of wine:
“Let’s eat and drink, for tomorrow we may die.”
But the Lord of armies revealed Himself to me:
“Certainly this wrongdoing will not be forgiven you
Until you die,” says the Lord God of armies.

This is what the Lord God of armies says:

“Come, go to this steward,
To Shebna who is in charge of the royal household,
‘What right do you have here,
And whom do you have here,
That you have cut out a tomb for yourself here,
You who cut out a tomb on the height,
You who carve a resting place for yourself in the rock?
Behold, the Lord is about to hurl you violently, you strong man.
And He is about to grasp you firmly
And wrap you up tightly like a ball,
To be driven into a vast country;
There you will die,
And there your splendid chariots will be,
You shame of your master’s house!’
I will depose you from your office,
And I will pull you down from your position.

 

In these verses God addresses two different parties in the same situation. The first is Israel when they are invaded. The second is one of the chief leaders, named Shebna, who managed their failed government. Both were optimistic and self-confident in a time when God had called them to repentance and change. 

 

When they were about to be invaded, God called his people to austerity, soul-searching, and repentance. He had intended that the event could be used to bring reform to their corrupt lives and show them his protection. But instead they acted liked condemned men having their last meal. Later they surrendered without a fight. They had the sinful attitude of "what happens will happen, so we might as well enjoy ourselves while we can."

And Shebna, the leader, instead of praying to God on behalf of his people, amassed expensive military equipment like a warlord, and built himself an impressive tomb to glorify himself for the generations to come. He had the sinful attitude of "our own strength will get us through the storm."

When the people refused to repent and fast and pray, God said he would not forgive them for the rest of their natural lives. That's a serious condemnation! Would you want God to hold something against you for the rest of your life? But to refuse to be penitent is to disregard the grace of God, or worse, to deny that you have sinned at all. It is an attitude that, on the one hand, takes God's protection for granted, and on the other, dares him to punish you for your sin. It's awful.

Shebna's focus, on the other hand, was on his own glory. He was proud of his leadership position and his military power, and was confident that he would be able to weather any invasion attempt and die a comfortable death in the land of his birth. He was his own treasure. But God tells him that he's going to crumple him up like trash and throw him away, far away.

It's easy to look back on these people as two-dimensional characters and to condemn them for what were, in retrospect, obvious faults. But put yourself in their shoes.

You're in a country that has been hearing rumors of invasion for awhile. Troops are building up on your borders. Maybe there is already a blockade. You know that when they invade, there is a good chance you will die, and if you don't, at least the money and food you have put away will be looted and you won't see any of it. 

 

Wouldn't you be tempted to enjoy life while you can? Spend a few more days with your loved ones, enjoying the good life? Isn't that kind of even in the Bible in the book of Ecclesiastes? Would your first thought really be "Maybe we need to collectively repend of our sin? Maybe God will intervene and we will be spared?"

Or maybe you're at the top of your career, and the economy is getting worse. You've still got plenty but maybe others don't. Wouldn't it be tempting to just continue making good investments, trusting that this recession will pass just like all of the others, and that you will be able to retire and live comfortably? And even if you can't, you still have enough money to have escape options if things go bad, right?

 

Would your first thoughts really be to seek God's will for the situation, when you already have tools in place that you trust? Would you even imagine that everything you have could be taken away? It's hard to be in "the place where faith is possible" if you don't even sense that anything could be a problem for you.

But we ourselves are exactly in the position of Shebna and his people. We are unimaginably wealthy by ancient standards. We have more options and technologies at our disposal than any human beings in all of history. And on top of that we have government services that provide such a cushion to any hardship that may come that we don't seriously think about things like war, disease, famine, or abject poverty. We have nuclear missiles, the Marines, Social Security, Welfare, medical insurance, and if we're lucky we even have a 401k. Who needs God in an existential sense? We have it all!

And at the same time, thanks to unrest in Russia, Israel, and China we have at least three potential world wars about to kick off, plus another pandemic around the corner, and an economy and infrastructure that are in rapid decline. And some would even say that the world itself is burning up, with famine on its way as a result. But do any of us think to pray? Or do we just brace for impact or try to enjoy life while we can, and hope for the best?

On the one hand, we are powerless against at least half a dozen existential threats, and on the other hand, we are so privileged and insulated that we don't feel particularly threatened as individuals. Like Shebna, we don't feel a particular need to call for God's help in our lives and for the state of our community, and like his people, we don't particularly feel like God has agency in our world or like we have responsibilities in his. We feel neither vulnerable nor culpable in a world where we very much are both.

Can you really glorify God's grace and power if you never ask for it? And if you yourself are nearly god-like in your own eyes, would you have the sense to bend the knee to One greater? These are the attitudes that made God so angry at Shebna and his people, who he offered to save, and for whom he had such great plans. These are attitudes that deny God, and deny his greatness, and put ourselves and our circumstances at the center of all things.

If you go back to the fall in the garden of Eden, the serpent's promise to Eve was that we would become like God. We can see the illusion of his lie still blinds us in these verses. "Do God's wishes and commandments really matter?" "Will we really die?" Or can we just eat and do what we want and just somehow get through it on our own?

So this week is kind of a big question: What is your attitude towards risk, disaster, and hardship? Is God in the center of it with you? Is there a humility to your approach? Or are you like Shebna and his people, in blissful rebellion, reassured of your greatness, or divested of all hope, walking blindly into a trap you could have avoided if only you would look up?