(15) Hey, folks who try to hide a plan too deep for YHWH,
Who do their deeds in the dark.
Then they say, “Who will see us?”
“Who will recognize us?”
(16) You’ve got it all backwards!
Can the potter be regarded as clay?
Will the thing that is made say to its maker, “You didn’t make me?”
Will the thing that is formed say to the one who formed it, “You don’t understand?”
(17) In a very little time shall not Lebanon become an orchard,
And the orchard shall be considered a forest.
(18) On that day the deaf shall hear the words of a scroll,
And the eyes of the blind shall see from gloom and darkness.
(19) The meek shall add joy from YHWH,
and poor people will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. — Isaiah 29:15-19
God has good plans for you, but can he carry them through? When we ask a question like that theologically—not as part of our real lives—we obviously know the answer. “Who believes that God can do anything?†Everybody in the Sunday School class raises their hands.
But in our daily lives we are not nearly so sure. We certainly don’t act like we think God is capable of carrying a plan through. Why do I say this?
- We make backup plans just in case God doesn’t come through
- We hide our behavior as though God can’t see it
- We hold things back in prayer as though God doesn’t know what we’re saying
- We regularly call our creator stupid by putting down his creation—ourselves and other people.
- We act as though God can be manipulated, molded like clay
But God has better plans for you than you know. He has made you “a little less than God.†He’s even given you some of that power to make things, to form them. The power is there.
But in our text the Israelites think that they can hide things away from God, that he won’t see what they’re doing or recognize their intent. God not only has the creative power, he has the knowledge.
12For the God’s message is alive and active, sharper than any two edged sword, piercing to the division of the soul and spirit, bones and marrow, judging the desires and thoughts of the heart. 13And there is no creature who is not visible to him, for everything is naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account. — Hebrews 4:12-13
There is nothing that he doesn’t see, nothing that he misses, no place that you can go to hide from him. But don’t let that get you down! He has wonderful plans for you, and because he created you and knows you, he will be able to bring those good plans to completion.
Power + Knowledge = Hope — for you!
God richly bless you.