Woe!

Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses, who trust in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel or consult the LORD! And yet He is wise and brings disaster; He does not call back His words, but will arise against the house of the evildoers and against the helpers of those who work iniquity. The Egyptians are men, and not God, and their horses are flesh, and not spirit. When the LORD stretches out His hand, the helper will stumble, and he who is helped will fall, and they will all perish together. (Isa 31:1-3)

Isaiah 31 is addressed to Israel, the professing people of God. In this chapter God begins with a warning. We're not really familiar with the concept of "woe." I mean, we kind of get that it's about grief or indignation or something, but in biblical terms it is something much more. Isaiah used the term about himself in Isaiah 6 when he saw God. "Woe is me! for I am undone." (Isa 6:5) The language is not merely of grief or indignation. It is an unraveling of the person. It's a lament, but it carries with it the sense of being cursed. "God is turning His back on me." It is a term of judgment. We think, "It means things won't go well for you," but this is really bad. What brought about this statement from God about His people?

Well, they did something awful. They ... expected help in battle from perhaps the world's most powerful army at the time. Now, hang on. How is that "woeful"? Isn't that rational? If you want to get healthy, go to a doctor. If you want to make money, get a job. If you want to protect yourself from enemies, buy protection. It makes sense. "Woe"???

Of course, I'm not precisely correct. It wasn't that they sought help from Egypt. It was that they relied on Egypt. It was that they didn't "look to the Holy One of Israel or consult the LORD." They trusted in horses and chariots to the exclusion of the LORD, their only actually reliable help.

We do that, don't we? We look to better judges or better leadership to make America better. We hope for better laws to make America more moral. We work out better programs to make people less racist or less sexist or more inclusive. (Have you heard recently that the language of "inclusiveness" is now considered racist because it is condescending? No win.) We try to get better stuff to make a better life, whether it's better equipment for church or better Bible studies for personal use or better training to get along better with others.

Mind you, I'm not suggesting in the least that we shouldn't do any of this. What I'm suggesting is that, like God's self-professed people, we are mistaken (to the level of "woe") if that's where we're putting our trust. We're wrong (to the level of the biblical curse) if we do it without seeking God and relying on Him. I'm suggesting that our eyes need to be on the Lord and Him alone. He may often supply what we need through these means, but never forget that it is Him, not them, that is our focus and sufficiency.