Where do you look to the future?

 This week's verses are Isaiah 8:19-20:

They will say to you, “Seek oracles at the pits used to conjure up underworld spirits, from the magicians who chirp and mutter incantations. Should people not seek oracles from their gods, by asking the dead about the destiny of the living?” Then you must recall the Lord’s instructions and the prophetic testimony of what would happen. Certainly they say such things because their minds are spiritually darkened.

These verses follow on last week's study about the dangers of getting wound up in rumors and political drama. This week it's a question of where we place our hope in the future. When the people in Isaiah's time were afraid of being invaded, they turned to the occult to reassure themselves that everything would be OK.

God describes these people as being spiritually darkened. Other translations say they lack the light of dawn. Instead of seeing God as the ultimate source of protection and comfort, they looked to their local oracles, fortune tellers and magicians. They weren't seeing the world as it was.

Nowadays it might be us googling for an answer to a worrying question, watching some YouTube or TV news, asking ChatGPT or whatever. We want to reassure ourselves that everything will be OK, but we don't necessarily see God as being real enough or trustworthy enough for us to place our trust in him directly. We look at the screen like it is a crystal ball, like the TV personalities are priests with a direct line to the workings of the universe, like Google is the mind of God, and we make it the start and finish of our quest for truth.

That's not to say that we can't find useful information when we are worried, and that this information can't help us to make plans or to feel better. We're not called to bury our heads in the sand. The problem comes when something is so important to us that we will turn to witchcraft, false prophets, charlatans, and complete strangers without even so much as having a conversation with God.

Are we so spiritually darkened that we only see other shadowy forms around us when we cry for help? Or has God's light dawned on us enough that we see beyond what is around us?

If you were in Isaiah's shoes, in a vulnerable land whose neighbors are being invaded one by one by a much larger army, where would you turn for help, hope, and guidance? Would you just go where your neighbors are going? Would you listen to the loudest, flashiest, most confident voice with the highest production value and the most followers? Where is your heart tuned? Where do you look when you consider your future?