Dependency

In the Old Testament, we read accounts of the Children of Israel.

When the Israelites would wander from The LORD,
God would send and/or allow other nations to come against them
and triumph over them.

Then His people would remember Him again
and cry out to Him
and return to Him.

Sometimes, they returned just enough to stop the punishment.
Sometimes, they didn't return with all of their hearts.
Sometimes, they did and it was known that they did
because they would tear down their high places
where they worshipped other gods.

I was reading in Isaiah 10-14 and an un-underlined portion
of Scripture in my Mother's Bible stopped me in the process
of reading the underlined portions.

The verse was Isaiah 10:20.

"And it shall come to pass in that day
That the remnant of Israel,
And such as have escaped of the house of Jacob,
Will never again depend on him who defeated them,
But will depend on the LORD,
the Holy One of Israel, in truth."

I wondered, "How are we dependent on him who has defeated us?"

(In this case, the Assyrians had been oppressing God's people
but the tables were about to turn
and God was about to punish arrogant, disobedient Assyria.)

So, I looked up the word 'dependent' in Websters.

Wow.

Dependent means 'hanging down, influenced, controlled,
or determined by something else. Relying on someone or something
for support or aid.'

The LORD was telling His people that no longer would
they be influenced or controlled by their enemies.

No longer would their freedom be determined by another.

No longer would they be held captive
by another's influence or weight in their lives.

Not only would their captors lose their power,
but according to Isaiah 14:2c~
'they would take them captive
whose captives they were,
and rule over their oppressors.'

You know what this says to me?

Perhaps we have come into captivity
because we've been rebellious
and have turned away from God.

But if we return to Him,
He will take the very things
that held us captive in our rebellion
and will use them to take captive
that which held us captive.

When we are in bondage,
we are dependent on that bondage.
We are dependent on our sickness,
the bad things that have happened to us,
the consequences of our own unwise choices,
our lot in life.
We are influenced by these things.

It is our excuse for mediocrity.
It is our excuse for not being involved.
It is our excuse to continue in the activities
that cause us and other's pain.
It is our excuse to be irresponsible.

We use our bondage
for a wrong kind of freedom.
"This is my life;
I can do what I want."

But Isaiah offers a different kind of dependency.

He says,
"There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse,
And a Branch shall grow out of his roots.
The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him,
The Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The Spirit of counsel and might,
The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD."
(Is.11:1,2)

God invites us to come out of the captivity of sin.
He invites us,
to take that sin captive and then,
to use the way God redeems us from that sin
to help others gain freedom from a similar captivity.

And He invites us to no longer be dependent
or influenced by that sin
and its consequences.

He invites us to be dependent and influenced by the One
who is full of wisdom, understanding, counsel,
might, knowledge, and of the fear of the LORD.

We no longer have to wait for Him
as they did in Isaiah's day.

He has come.
And through His Spirit,
He is with us.
Every day.

Sometimes, the journey to freedom
is a process.
Like the Children of Israel,
when they were released from their captivity
to go back home.

It took them awhile.

They had to rebuild the walls and the temple.
They got discouraged along the way.
Sometimes, they stopped working.
But God would send someone to encourage them
to help them start building again.

So, don't give up.

This very giant of a jail
may be your playground some day soon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Psalm 71:20,21-
"You who have shown me great and severe troubles,
Shall revive me again,
And bring me up again from the depths of the earth.
You shall increase my greatness,
And comfort me on every side."

1 Peter 5:10,11-
"But may the God of all grace,
who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus,
after you have suffered a while,
perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.
To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen."

11 Chron.7:13,14-
"When I shut up heaven and there is no rain,
or command the locusts to devour the land,
or send pestilence among My people,
If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves,
and pray and seek My face,
and turn from their wicked ways,
then I will hear from heaven,
and will forgive their sin
and heal their land."


Isaiah 62:4-
"You shall no longer be termed Forsaken,
Nor shall your land any more be termed Desolate;
But you shall be called Hephzibah-'My Delight is in you,'
and your land Beulah;
and your land shall be married."

Isaiah 61:7-
"Instead of your shame you shall have double honor,
And instead of confusion
they shall rejoice in their portion.
Therefore in their land they shall possess double;
Everlasting joy shall be theirs."

Song of Solomon 2:10-12-
"My beloved spoke, and said to me:
'Rise up, my love, my fair one,
And come away.
For lo, the winter is past,
The rain is over and gone,
The flowers appear on the earth;
The time of singing has come,
And the voice of the turtledove
Is heard in our land.'"