Whose Fire Are You Walking By? Your Own or God’s?
This morning as I sat in my chair to pray, I felt prompted to read Isaiah 50. I know I have read the chapter before, but I was surprised at what I found. It was if I was reading these verses for the first time. Here are the relevant passages:
“When I came, why was there no one? When I called, why was there no one to answer? Was my arm too short to ransom you? Do I lack the strength to rescue you? By a mere rebuke I dry up the sea, I turn rivers into a desert, their fish rot for lack of water and die of thirst. I clothe the sky with darkness and make sackcloth its covering” (Isaiah 50: 2, 3 NIV).
“Who among you fears the Lord, and obeys the word of his servant? Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God. But now, all you who light fires and provide yourselves with flaming torches, go, walk in the light of your fires and of the torches you have set ablaze. This is what you shall receive from my hand: you will lie down in torment” (Isaiah 50: 10, 11 NIV).
I am traveling today to Brazil to teach healing and repentance prayer in 3 churches there. Each session will last 4 days. Last night I felt anxious about the trip, “Will I make my connection, how will I find my way around a strange airport in Sao Paulo, have I packed everything I need, will it be safe, can I teach all the material in a way that holds their attention and communicates the main points?” And in the middle of this wave of anxiety, my cell phone stopped working.
And then this morning, I read Isaiah 50: 2, 3. At first I focused on these words, “Do I lack the strength of rescue you?” And then, “Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the Lord”.
God was affirming what He had told me often when I thought about this trip. “I am with you, I am holding you. This will be a great trip filled with signs, wonders, and the work of the Holy Spirit. Everything will be ok”.
It is always good to be reminded by God that He is strong and trustworthy. As I read these words I felt the anxiety leave, replaced by peace and joy – the peace that passes understanding and the joy of the Lord that always comes when I really trust Him.
And then my mind turned to Isaiah 50: 11. As I read these words the Lord told me they describe the person who is walking in pride, and I thought of my last post.
When we try to control life around us, fix problems in our own power, find our value, fulfillment, and security in our money, possessions, health, and power or prestige, we are walking in pride. This is the person who “is walking in the light of their own fires, and of the torches they have set ablaze.”
What a perfect description of the unbeliever who is living their life in the kingdom of the world – they are walking in the light of their own fires.
But sadly, it is also an accurate description of many professing, church-going, Bible-believing Christians. And where there is pride, there can be no faith.
There are a lot of reasons why America is turning away from Jesus. And not all of these reasons are the fault of the Church. But, without faith there is no power, and without power there is no life. The Church is dying for a lack of power. We are walking in the light of our own fires.
Isaiah 50 is the prophet Isaiah’s call to Judah before they were conquered by Babylon. If you read the entire chapter, you will also find a glimpse of the coming Messiah – Jesus.
For generations, Christians have read Isaiah as a prophesy for our lives as well.
The disciple John wrote about Jesus, “In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it” (John 1: 4, 5).
Perhaps the reason the darkness has not understood the Light is because men had already made their own light – walking in the light of their own fires and torches they have set ablaze – the self-life. “Why do we need more light”, they might ask. “What we have works well enough”.
The light of the self-light is to the light of Christ as moonlight is to the sun. There is no comparison, but until you have experienced the light of Christ, you cannot understand what real light is like; you will not understand that moonlight is a counterfeit light.
It reminds me of Paul’s last words in Acts to the Jews (and today, to many of us?), in which he explained that God’s salvation is being given to the Gentiles, “and they will listen”.
“You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise, they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn (repent), and I would heal them” (Acts 28: 26, 27 NIV).
Grateful for His light and life,
John