Unguarded

Passage: Isaiah 25

Phillip Meyer’s novel The Son introduces Eli McCullough who, at age 13, is kidnapped by a band of Comanche and absorbed into their tribe.  The night Eli is taken, his home is surrounded by hostile marauders; while Eli and his brother attempt to mount a defense, his mother simply opens the door and lets the attackers in.  It’s as though she has resigned herself to the inevitable.  No man-made barrier will ever keep out death.  

This is the lesson that Isaiah repeats again and again.  Through the prophet, God warns his people against swallowing the wisdom of the day: the more property you hoard; the more weapons you amass; the higher walls you build, the safer you will be.  God tells his people that defending their lives by hoarding and killing will ultimately cost them everything.  The people whom God condemns most harshly are the rich and powerful – those who have bought the illusion that they can stave off death.

On the other hand, God is compassionate and conciliatory toward the poor – those who have no natural defenses and no recourse but one: to appeal to God himself.  Paradoxically, this is the pathway to life – a more peaceful and prosperous life now,  and for all eternity. 

God issues this radical imperative to his people: Live life unguarded.  At the same time God issues a radical promise:

On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.
And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations.
He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.
God tells his people that he is the only fortress and defender they will ever need. 

Count yourself among God’s people today.  Think about the defenses you’ve put up.  The ways you’ve kept others at arm’s length.  The walls of property and privilege and pride that surround your heart.  Do they keep you safe?  Or do they simply keep you isolated?  God swallowed up death forever at the cross.  If you belong to him, nothing can take away what really matters.  

At a time in which the threat of death seemed imminent, Jesus told his disciples,

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven… (Matthew 10:29-32)

Try life unguarded.  Let God be your protection and your courage.  Experience the present and the future Isaiah predicts for everyone whom God has taken under his wing:

It will be said on that day,
    “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us.
    This is the Lord; we have waited for him;
    let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”