PLACING HOPE in FALSEHOOD

Therefore hear the word of the Lord, afflicted people, and rulers of the people that are in Jerusalem. Because you have said, We have made a covenant with Hades, and agreements with death; if the rushing storm should pass, it shall not come upon us: we have made falsehood our hope, and by falsehood shall we be protected: Therefore thus says the Lord, even the Lord, Behold, I lay for the foundations of Sion a costly stone, a choice, a corner-stone, a precious stone, for its foundations; and he that believes on him shall by no means be ashamed. And I will cause judgment to be for hope, and my compassion shall be for just measures, and you that trust vainly in falsehood shall fall: for the storm shall by no means pass by you, except it also take away your covenant of death, and your trust in Hades shall by no means stand: if the rushing storm should come upon you, you shall be beaten down by it.” (Is 28: 14-18, Septuagint-translation)

To place trust or hope “in falsehood” is a bad policy, both for “rulers of people” in their governing, and for each of us in our personal lives. And by “falsehood” I mean various kinds of wishful thinking, about myself or others. This includes pretending to be who I am not, because of people-pleasing and fear, and imagining or expecting from others to be who/what they are not, according to the self-centered constructions in our minds. A “rushing storm,” if it happens to come upon us, will bring down this house of cards.

Today, when a dear friend of mine languishes in prison and is on a hunger-strike, standing up for what we all know to be true, but are mostly silent about because we make that choice, I pray that we re-embrace Christ as the “precious corner-stone” in the foundations of our “house,” that we may be protected in His humbling light, rather than trust vainly in falsehood. “The stone which the builders rejected has become the head corner-stone. This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes.” (Ps 117/118: 22-23)