Isaiah 50:10-11 - Spiritual Night Vision Goggles

You can fully trust God to guide your steps through this dark world.

Isaiah 50:10-11 (NIV)

CONTEXT: This passage follows the second of the four 'Servant Songs' that described the coming Messiah (we read another a few weeks ago). These words don't describe the Servant, but describe the fates of both those who follow Him (v10) and those who reject Him (v11).

10 Who among you fears the Lord

and obeys the word of his servant?

Let the one who walks in the dark,

who has no light,

trust in the name of the Lord

and rely on their God.

11 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.

Canons of Dordt

Point 1 - God's Unconditional Election

Articles 1-14

Article 16 - Encouragement for the Doubting

Those who do not yet actively experience within themselves
1. a living faith in Christ or an assured confidence of heart, peace of conscience, a zeal for childlike obedience, and a glorying in God through Christ,
2. but who nevertheless use the means by which God has promised to work these things in us—
3. such people
  1. ought not
    1. to be alarmed at the mention of reprobation,
    2. nor to count themselves among the reprobate;
  2. rather they ought to continue diligently in the use of the means,
    1. to desire fervently a time of more abundant grace,
    2. and to wait for it in reverence and humility.
On the other hand, those who seriously desire to turn to God,
1. to be pleasing to God alone, and to be delivered from the body of death,
2. but are not yet able to make such progress along the way of godliness and faith as they would like—
3. such people
  1. ought much less to stand in fear of the teaching concerning reprobation,
  2. since our merciful God has promised not to snuff out a smoldering wick or break a bruised reed.
However, those who have forgotten God and their Savior Jesus Christ and have abandoned themselves wholly to the cares of the world and the pleasures of the flesh—
1. such people have every reason to stand in fear of this teaching,
2. as long as they do not seriously turn to God.

Summary

Usually when the Bible refers to those who walk in the dark, it's referencing people with spiritual blindness, whose eyes haven't been opened (regenerated) by the Spirit to see the truth of the gospel. But Isaiah flips that script here in today's passage. Here, Isaiah describes the life of the godly as being dark and having no light.

Jesus would go on to describe this same concept, albeit with a different analogy. His followers would take the narrow road, the road that when contrasted with the brightly lit wide road seems dark, lonely and foreboding to most people, a road in which each step must be carefully felt out before fully planting your foot. Paul also referred to this idea using yet another analogy in Romans 12:2, commanding the Christian to test and approve every decision to discern what God's will is.

But Isaiah here promises that you won't walk this difficult road alone. You can walk it with confidence, knowing that you can fully trust in the name of the LORD and rely on your God. The idea here is that you're no longer relying upon your own senses to navigate life, but are fully in tune and aligned with God's good, pleasing and perfect will (Rom. 12:2b).

It's like having a pair of spiritual night vision goggles to make the path ahead visible and keep you on the straight and narrow rather than relying on your own feeble eyesight peering into the dark.

Dig Deeper

Isaiah goes on to describe the false confidence so many of your friends and neighbors have. They're walking in the same exact darkness you are, but they've provided their own light using fires and flaming torches. This seems like a reasonable and practical solution, but the lights they've provided for themselves have a fatal flaw: they only light up the things they want to see. They only point in the direction they want to go. They don't illuminate the danger that the path they're on leads to.

Often their daily journey appears far easier and more enjoyable than the difficult hike that lays before you each day. It seems so tempting to just coast alongside of them for awhile; afterall, it all seems so brightly lit. But their path terminates in torment, and once you're on it, it's really hard to find the exit.

The difficult topic of reprobation that we struggled through last week are meant to frighten the people which Isaiah describes as walking in the light of their own fires. The Canons say such people have every reason to stand in fear of this teaching, as long as they do not seriously turn to God.

But this doctrine shouldn't frighten you, since your steps are guided by trusting and relying in the name of the LORD. You don't need to worry that you'll wander outside of the grip of His grace. Remember, His grace is stronger than you are.

AAA Prayer (About)

ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, whose name we can trust and rely on;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you'll continue to trust in God rather than relying on your own limited light;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: