Isaiah 29:1-12 God is In Control, But God Isn't On Our Side

(No, not this Ariel).

Observation: I had to look up the Biblical meaning of "Ariel" in Isaiah. In this case it is just a more obscure name for Jerusalem. God plans to attack the capital of Judah, but later, to have the city's attackers be defeated.


Application: In our Thursday Bible study, we've been talking about the Babylonian exile, and the terrible religious crisis it presented to the people of Judah. Facing such a national dilemma, they could come to one of only two conclusions. Either God has been defeated, or God was on the other side of this conflict. Hard as it was to accept, they chose the second option.


Too often, we assume that, by default, God is on "our" side, whatever that means for our own context. The side of my country, the side of my region or community, the side of my football team (???), Whatever constitutes "us" for the moment, God must be on our side. One of my favourite Bob Dylan songs explores this theme at length.


But we forget two things: first, that the last thousand years (if not longer) have yieldeded hundreds of examples of people of the same religion, reading the same Bible and praying to the same God, on opposite sides of a violent conflict, both believing God to be on their side.





So who's right? Well, probably no one. In a time of flagrant intra-religious conflict, the American Civil War, Lincoln said, "Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right."






That's the sticky wicket. Putting "sides" aside, and finding God in our community, our conscience, our sacred texts.






Prayer: God, on whatever "side" we find ourselves today, help us to leave camp, and run to your side. Amen.