Isaiah 22:11 Ye made also a ditch between the two walls for the water of the old pool: but ye have not looked unto the maker thereof, neither had respect unto him that fashioned it long ago
Years ago, we had just finished a service for deaf campers in our Webber Auditorium when someone came running in a little panicked and said, “Dr. Cathy has just fallen.” Dr. Cathy is my grandmother. She lived to be a 101. She was somewhere in her nineties at the time and she had fallen at the bottom of the staircase that drained the Webber Auditorium. I remember rushing out a little scared. Grandmother was seated on the ground at the bottom of the staircase holding her arm which had been injured. As I approached, she looked up and said very calmly, “I think I have broken my arm.” Well, grandmother had a high pain threshold. She had broken her arm and she was very tough about it. Some people break a nail and they panic. Everyone responds differently to pain.
Israel was in pain. Israel was being sieged by the mighty Assyrian army. Israel was in pain, but God was the source. God may have been the source, but sin was the problem, not God and not Assyria. Assyria was merely God’s tool to lovingly chasten Israel to turn back to God. In Isaiah 21 the prophet mourns that Babylon could not check the encroaching Assyrian army. They couldn’t look to Babylon to help. Babylon could not help at this time. The leaders of Israel could not help. In Isaiah 22 the leaders of Jerusalem fled at the siege, but were recaptured. So, instead of returning to God who sent the pain, they built conduits, tried to deprive the enemy of water, leveled homes, built new walls, and took out weapons from the armory. They tried to do everything to ignore the pain. This really was not ignoring the pain; it was ignoring God.
Today, don’t ignore the pain. Have you ever had something that hurts and you ignore it? Instead of getting it fixed, you ignore it and after a while the pain is just wallpaper in your life. Everything is recalibrated to account for that pain. Instead of making it right, you change what you are doing, not in a productive way, but to put up with the pain.
Isaiah 22:8 says, “And he discovered the covering of Judah, and thou didst look in that day to the armour of the house of the forest.” Verse 11 says, “Ye made also a ditch between the two walls for the water of the old pool: but ye have not looked unto the maker thereof, neither had respect for him that fashioned it long ago.” It is saying, “You are ignoring God and responding to the pain by redoubling your efforts to trust yourself.”
Verse 12 says, “And in that day did the Lord GOD of hosts call to weeping, and to mourning and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth.” The point wasn’t the pain, but a return to God. Verse 13 says, “And behold joy and gladness.” God had sent punishment so they would stop what they were doing, think about it, and return to God. Verse 14 says, “And it was revealed in mine ears by the LORD of hosts, Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye die, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.” God was not intending that they die. The point is they never responded to God’s judgment. They would just die in their sin. They were stubborn and ignored it.
Not all pain is from God. So, what do you do if you have trouble but are not sure if it is God or not? Do you worry? Do you know whether trouble is of God because of emotion or some subjective thing you interpret? No. The answer is in what God has said, His Word. Verse 15 is an example, “Thus saith the LORD God of hosts.” God was leading the army that was threatening Israel, not for their destruction, but for their restoration. God’s Word is how we know God loves us and chastens His own, that He is lovingly bringing us back to Himself.
Years ago, I had a horse named Note, a little paint. I tried to teach her how to respond to leg reining, where you didn’t have to use your hands, no reins. The way I did this was by using leg pressure. Note ignored me for the longest time. She didn’t pay attention to the leg pressure. Then one day I noticed she was irritated with something on a trail ride with a camper. She would swish her tail and stomp her back hoof as if she was trying to get rid of a horsefly, but there was no horsefly. I realized she was irritated. I then realized that every time I applied pressure with my knee, she would swish her tail and stomp with that back hoof. Finally, she acknowledged the pressure. Within two days, she had learned to respond to leg pressure without reins. So, she had ignored the pressure, then acknowledged the pressure, then she responded to the pressure in a positive way that allowed her to go in the right direction.
God does not wish to send pain; God wishes to send direction and joy in your life and mine. So, don’t worry; don’t panic, but don’t ignore the pain because pain isn’t the point. The point is a return to God, and we know what that is by looking at God’s Word.