The war had not yet reached Judah, but the Assyrian army was moving southward, wreaking death and devastation on every community they encountered. The leaders of Jerusalem pondered on this: and Isaiah declared that they had imagined they could make a deal with the Devil, a covenant with Death, so that when the great disaster came along that would overwhelm everyone else, they would still be OK. These leaders imagine they would have a refuge to keep them safe from the destruction – though this shelter they want to count on is actually a lie (Isaiah 28:15).

It is a strategy that cannot work. What good can it do for anyone to pretend to believe it? Since the city officials in Jerusalem are the ones who are making up the lie, they have to know that their falsehood won’t turn out to be true. The day of reckoning is coming; and on that day, God will show them that their deal is no good, annulling their covenant with Death. The disaster will beat them down, no question about it (28:18-19).

It would be easy to apply this to government leaders today. It would be equally easy to apply it to corporate CEOs or to campus protesters, to the intelligentsia or to the survivalists, to the baby boomers who have not adequately funded their IRAs or to the boomers who have. But really, the place I must apply it is to my own life, with the lies I tell myself. In the end, the only sure foundation is the solid rock established by God; only the person who trusts in what God has provided will avoid the shame or the panic (28:16).

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Save us, O God, from our rush to believe the lies about where the answer might be found: in the economy, or the environment, or politics; or in a big bank account, or in being self-reliant. These are all false hopes: you alone are the answer, O Lord, and it is in you alone that we can trust.

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