Fanning the Flames

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University

"Be careful, keep calm and don't be afraid. Do not lose heart because of these two smoldering stubs of firewod--because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram... If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all." Isaiah 7:4-9

Desert Carnage 24/7 The first Gulf War brought the desert carnage into the world's living rooms, live, 24/7, and it was a gut wrenching experience as lives seemed to stop and everyone waited for moment by moment updates. But in China, we had no international TV and the news in the paper was 4 to 5 days late. So the whole war was pretty much over by the time I knew what was going on. But it saved a lot of wear on my nerves, and even today I limit how much news I watch. Informed is one thing; intimate involvement in what I cannot change is another.

Almost daily, I receive E-mails from people fearful that the elections and economic problems. And if I hung on the news as they did I might become fearful as well.

It is good to be informed, of course, but we humans were not designed to be this informed, where every disaster on the planet is brought right into our living rooms, from war in Afghanistan to a bus tumbling off a bridge in Peru. People even get news updates on their cell phones. Our fear is fanning the flames, and the professional end-timers claim the end of the world is upon us and tell us to sell everything and convert it to gold and hide in the mountains (but not before sending them a generous offering to help keep them on the air--which seems rather pointless if everything is ending).

I don't know if the world is ending or not. I don't know what is happening later this morning, much less tomorrow or next year. But even Jesus said that no one, including himself, knew the day or the hour of the end, and his counsel was to keep working, stewarding what we have, that His kingdom come his, will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. We could also learn a lesson from old King Ahaz.

Stand Tall or Not at All It must have seemed the end of the world to Ahaz as he faced the attack of two powerful neighbors, but God said they were not blazing torches but "smoldering stubs of wood" soon to be extinguished. "Within sixty five years Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people." God told Ahaz to "Either stand firm in the faith or don't stand at all."

Smoldering stubs of wood are all around us today, but the powerful media, and our fears, are fanning them into a blaze. Some people fight, some run, and some just give up and hope for the best in the next life. I'm not sure what you should do, but however you are led--do it without fear. Stand tall or not at all, and make a difference. It may not be big, in the eternal scheme of things, but as Mother Theresa said, "It is only a drop in the ocean but if it were not there it would be missed."

In "Our Daily Homily" (London, 1894), F.B. Meyer wrote:
Take heed, and be quiet: fear not, neither let your heart be faint. Isaiah 7:4 (R.V.)

SERIOUS trouble seemed imminent. Two strong peoples were bearing down on Jerusalem, and the heart of the house of David was moved as the trees of the frest are moved with the wind. Fear like this demoralizes men and nations. It unfits them for wise and strong action. Hence the necessity that Isaiah should reassure Ahaz with these words.

They were not sent to him because of his righteousness or virtue, for he was one of the weakest and most idolatrous of the kings of David's line, but because his foes were acting in direct collision with the determined counsel and purpose of God. Such a coalition may be threatening you today; but it is vain for the breakers of the human pride and hate to attempt to intrude within limits which God has set around his chosen. Come, my soul, enter into your chamber and shut the door behind you. God will fight for you. Be not dismayed; God's purposes cannot be overthrown....
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