Posts Tagged: truth: supply and demand

“The Voice Behind You”

On August 15, 2023 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

“Isaiah 30:21 And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.” (English Standard Version)

Ancient Judah was in trouble when these words were written. Politically, Assyria was pushing toward the Mediterranean Sea. The Assyrian army was like a raging ocean itself, sweeping away everything in front of it.

And there were religious problems. Some of the Judahites had concluded that, if the Assyrians were so powerful, so were the Assyrian gods. Correspondingly, their God, Yahweh, seemed incredibly small and ineffective. What difference did it make if your God couldn’t protect you against these cosmic Assyrian bullies? Why bother?

The prophet Isaiah does not minimize how bad things are.  Alliances and military hardware will not avoid disaster. The people say that they will flee on horses. “Yes, you will,” says Isaiah, “but your pursuers will be even faster than you.” (Isaiah 30:16)

Yet, the prophet also holds out hope for those who wait on the LORD. He will have mercy on them (verse 18) and will answer their prayers (verse 19). He will give them teachers to teach them, teachers that they can actually see. (verse 20). No remote learning here!

But then, the prophet seems to acknowledge that such teachers are not always received well. That seems to me to be the implication of Isaiah’s next statement in verse 21: “And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.”

Wait! I thought that they would be able to see their teachers! Now, they are hearing a voice behind them. What is going on here?!?

I don’t know, but I will tell you what I suspect. I suspect that this is Isaiah’s way of acknowledging a simple and disturbing truth. And what is this truth? It is this: we humans tend to be unable to handle a lot of straightforward, face-to-face encounters with truth or with those who tell us the truth. As someone has said, “Despite the paucity of truth in the world, the supply is still much larger than the demand.”

So, we turn away from Truth and those who teach us. I’ve never met an honest person who didn’t admit to doing precisely that at times.

But there is still good news. God—directly or through our teachers or through our circumstances—still speaks to us. Yes, even when we turn away from him and from Truth, we hear a voice behind is. We still have to choose whether or not to listen, but the Voice is there, speaking to us. Some people call it conscience. I call it God. But no matter what you call it, listen carefully and direct your steps in the direction it indicates.

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