Isaiah 48:17b I am the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.
Do you remember the old days when you never knew who was on the other end of the phone? You would hear your phone ring, answer that old-fashioned phone that was tethered to your house, and you didn’t know who would be on the other end of the line. It could be a great call, a mistake, or a mistake for you to answer because it might start a conversation you did not want to have. I confess that today I am a coward. I do not answer my phone unless I know who it is that is calling. You know, you can either be punished or you can profit by whose call you answer.
In Isaiah 48 there is a call. It is a repeated call from God to His people. God says in Isaiah 48:17, “I am the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.” He is saying, “I know what you need to know. I know where you need to go. If you will listen, you will profit.” God is pleading with His people to listen for their own good.
In the first place, God knows the future. In verse 1 He says, “Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel.” He had called these people. He goes on to basically say, “I know the future. I have even from the beginning declared it to you. I did this so you would not be able to say, ‘My idols have done this’ or ‘We already knew it.’ It wasn’t that your idols knew; they don’t. It wasn’t that your best efforts could do it because they won’t know the future. Only I know the future.”
Imagine you could answer a phone today and someone on the other end knew every particular of the future and was giving you guidance in light of that. That is what God offered Israel, and that is what God provides today. So, we profit when we listen to Him.
Secondly, He rules creation. God rules this very earth. In verse 12 God says, “Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last.” Then he says that when He calls to creation “they stand up together.” God rules all creation, but humankind has a choice. There is not a part of creation that does not respond to the call of God except people because people have a choice. They have a will. But, it would be folly to rage against the entire universe by raging against the God Who made it. So, God rules creation and He knows the future.
Finally, God provides peace. Verse 18 says, “O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea.” In this entire chapter God keeps repeating, “I wish you would hear. Listen. Hear. I am calling.” But, they just let the phone ring. They ignore it.
This is when God says, “If you had listened, then your peace would have been like a river.” A river is a part of creation that is in touch with the Creator. When we are that way, in touch with our Creator, it provides a peace that can only come from doing what God made us to do. God says in verse 21, “They thirsted not when he led them.” God led them to the dessert in times past and they didn’t thirst because God was their peace. In verse 22 it says, “There is no peace, saith the LORD, unto the wicked.”
So, whatever you need and question today, we profit most when we listen to God. He knows the future, rules creation, and is the provider of peace.