Streams on Dry Ground

Isaiah 43:34, 22-24; 44:1-3

How many of us like travelling? If you are like me who is quite organized, before going anywhere, I would make a list of things I need to prepare. While I am making my list, I would sit down and imagine what the travel would be like and what the situation would be in my destination. I go so far as to pack a medical kit, which includes things that would alleviate tummy problems, paracetamol, ibuprofen, band aid, hydration packets, and Salon Pas. But here’s the thing: no matter how much I prepare for my travels, things do not always proceed as I have planned or expected. I went to Korea in 2007 for a 10-day stay, and I forgot to bring a single underwear. On the way to England in 2008, I left my passport at the table where I had a meal at the airport. I went to South Africa in 2013, and I forgot to bring a toothbrush. Travels are always exciting and scary at the same time.

The Christian life is like this. It is a journey. We start out with great expectations. But the journey is more dynamic than we thought it would be. Variables that we did not foresee pop up here and there. In a minute we are smelling the fragrance of flowers along the road, then strong wind and rain come out of nowhere. We are happily whistling when we suddenly step on a muddy puddle. Or we are very tired from walking and then we see an ice cream vendor up ahead. The Christian journey has its ups and downs.

Today, our reflections will be on where we are now in our Christian lives. Some of us have started the journey earlier than others. But our starting point does not really matter much. What matters right now is where we are. Our reflections will be from the Isaiah 43-44, but we will only emphasize some verses from these two chapters.

Loved and Saved

Our Christian journey begins with the God who loves. We would not even enter the journey if not for God’s lavish grace in delivering us from sin and death. The words of the Lord in Isaiah 43:3-4 perfectly describes God’s grace for us:

For I am the Lord your God,

    the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

I give Egypt as your ransom,

    Cush and Seba in exchange for you.

Because you are precious in my eyes,

    and honored, and I love you.

This passage spells at least two things. First, the passage tells us who God is to us: the Lord is your God and your Savior (43:3). Here God wanted to remind the Israelites that they were nothing but slaves until God showed His favor upon them and saved them from their miseries. He is their Savior. But secondly, the passage also speaks about who we are to God (43:4). Yahweh tells the Israelites that they are precious in His eyes, are honored in His presence, and that God loves them. This is one of the best passages of the Scripture you can ever read where God expresses His affection for Israel. This is precisely what God wants to tell us today: “You are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you” (43:4). This is definitely good news!

We are where we are right now—saved from sin and death and freed from the bondage of sin—is all because we are precious in God’s eyes and He loves us so much. He values each one of us. Regardless of our past and the many shortcomings we have had, we are God’s beloved children.

Cold Lover

But the God who loved the Israelites dearly issued complaints against them. He enumerated His grievances against them in Isaiah 43:22-24

 Yet you did not call upon me, O Jacob;

    but you have been weary of me, O Israel!

You have not brought me your sheep for burnt offerings,

    or honored me with your sacrifices.

You have not bought me sweet cane with money,

    or satisfied me with the fat of your sacrifices.

But you have burdened me with your sins;

    you have wearied me with your iniquities.

These verses give us a sudden jolt. These verses seem to be anti-climactic. Chapter 43 began with beautiful notes, only to end with these horrible complaints. Yahweh’s criticisms, if we look at them closely, are related to the worship at the temple. God’s complaints can be divided into two categories: things that they should do but did not do, and things they did but should not do.

John Oswalt commented that the Israelites did not really stop offering sacrifices at the temple. During the time of Isaiah, there were two other prophets: Amos and Hosea, although Amos was a bit older than the other two. In Amos 5:21-22, we hear God’s complaints:

I hate, I despise your feasts,

    and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.

Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,

    I will not accept them;

and the peace offerings of your fattened animals,

    I will not look upon them.

This means that the problem was not that the Israelites were no longer offering sacrifices to God. Rather, the problem was that they were offering the sacrifices only in obedience to a prescribed ritual. They were offering sacrifices only as a religious routine. And because they were doing the external actions empty of inward intention, they went to the temple to pray, but none of their hearts truly prayed (43:22a). They closed their eyes in prayer and mumbled words that were not meant. They brought sacrifices to the temple, but none of these sacrifices reached God’s throne (43:23a, 24a). They brought sacrifices but their offerings did not honor God (43:23b). They may have brought the best offerings—the fats—but God was not satisfied (43:24b).[1]

We may be like the Israelites in the passage. We go to church but we do not really encounter God. We attend the services but we are actually absent in mind and spirit. We close our eyes in prayer, but we are not really praying. We mumble words in prayer, but none of our statements reach God. We read our Bible but gain nothing. We perform Christian rituals of Bible-reading, prayer, devotions, and going to church on Sundays, but because we are doing them for the sake of doing them, we feel empty. The truth is this: performing all these things and not achieving our desired end brings upon us great doubts and deep feelings of guilt.

Renewal

But the good news is that even if the situation of the Israelites was quite bad, chapter 43 is followed by chapter 44, which begins with a good note:

But now hear, O Jacob my servant,

    Israel whom I have chosen!

Thus says the Lord who made you,

    who formed you from the womb and will help you:

Fear not, O Jacob my servant,

    Jeshurun whom I have chosen.

For I will pour water on the thirsty land,

    and streams on the dry ground;

I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring,

    and my blessing on your descendants (Isa 44:1-3)

The passages that we read exemplifies what Dr. Grant Zweigle called “sandwich approach.” The rebuke is sandwiched between two words of grace. After God spoke about His love for the Israelites in 43:3-4, He went on to enumerate His grievances, but goes back in chapter 44 to remind them of His love.

Chapter 44 begins with a “but now” (44:1), signifying a contrast between what was happening and what would happen. These two words are actually very important, because they express the fact that wherever we are in our Christian journey, we must acknowledge the reality of past sins but also live in the reality of present grace.[2] Every day and every second of our lives is a “but now” moment.

Even when God felt offended and abandoned because the Israelites were not doing things right, as we have read in 43:22-24, notice how He still calls the Israelites: my servant and chosen (44:1). God has not given up on them. Amidst all their failures and the bad records on folders with their names on them, God still considered them his covenanted servants and his beloved chosen.

It is because God still loves them that He tells them His blessings in 44:3. In this verse, He likens them to a thirsty land and a dry ground. They are parched. These descriptions are very appropriate. The result of routinal religious life and observance of rituals is ultimately a dry religious life. We may go to church. We may give our tithes and offerings. We may attend a cell group. We may read our Bibles. We may have our own prayer time. We may have our many ministries. But if these spiritual exercises are done in order to have a check in a checklist, they do not do anything for us. In fact, doing these things in this way actually trains our hearts to be calloused and unaffected by grace. Also, doing these things without the heart for them leads us to think that they are wearisome and a huge burden. This was precisely what God told the Israelites in 43:22, “You have been weary of me, O Israel.”

We must also remember that a dry land is a cracked land. It represents the fact that we are broken into pieces. This is just to be expected. A dry land is fragile and brittle. A soul that is empty of spiritual nourishment can easily shatter to pieces under very small pressure.

But God says to us today: “I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground” (44:3). I love this verse, because the picture is that of rain pouring down from heaven, and the once dry ground, empty of life and cracked with ugliness, receives the rain of God’s mercy and the ground begins to mend into wholeness again. Then soon, life springs from the same once dry ground. This is what God promised.

[1] John N. Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah Chapters 40-66 (NICOT; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998), 159-60.

[2] Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah, 164.