Here are the verses from Isaiah 50:
1 Thus says Jehovah, Where is the bill of your mother's divorce With which I have put her away? Or to which of My creditors Have I sold you? Indeed, for your iniquities you were sold, And for your transgressions your mother was put away.
2 Why when I came was there no man? And when I called why was there no one to answer? Is My hand so short that it cannot redeem? Or do I have no power to deliver? Indeed, at My rebuke I dry up the sea; I make the rivers a wilderness; Their fish stink because there is no water, and die of thirst.
After Jehovah tells the children of Israel about divorcing them and selling them to creditors because of their sins, He asks "Why when I came was there no man?" (Isa. 50:2) This is an interesting question?
I think that you can interpret the question in two ways:
1. What is your defense? Where is a man who can challenge my decision to punish Israel?
or
2. I, Jehovah, is looking for man who can stand with Me. Where is this man? How come I can't find anyone?
If God was asking "Man, where are you with your defense?" I would reply, "God, I am guilty. Your judgment is righteous. I deserve the punishment that You put on me." As Job put it, "how can a man be righteous before God?" (Job 9:2). Who can be clean when God examines him? Even though I am blood washed and Spirit born Christian, I have many stains in my life. If God started to examine my life, I would not be able to stand and be before Him. If He were to come in this way, He would find me in a corner hiding.
However as I considered the question as God looking for a proper man who can stand for God, a lot of inspiration and applications came to me. Imagine, what if God is actually looking for someone (man or woman) to move with Him? What if God is asking "Who will stand with Me?"
This doesn't mean that this person is perfect but that his confidence will be in the blood that washes him and the Spirit that is operating within him.
I think that a problem of many Christian fellowship is that there is no one that will dare to stand with God. There are many church goers. There are many needy people. There are many who are committed to their own spiritual pursuits. But it seems that there are only few or hardly any who will commit to God's will in their fellowship that God has placed them. In other words, Christians are selfish. They generally don't care about the Christians around them nor desire what God would like to do with them. Hence, when God comes among them, He would say "Why when I came was there no man? And when I called why was there no one to answer?" (Isa. 50:2)
However, I wondered, what if there was one little potato, who can stand for God, His people and His commitment to the world? What if that little potato can be me in Ann Arbor and some others around me? What if that little potato is you? George Mueller who fed thousands of orphans by faith in God and not men, he started out as a little potato. He thought, if I, a little brother, can live by faith, surely everyone else can do the same. But the problem lies in that we , after reading his account, miss his point (experiment with God) and consider him not as a little potato but as a gigantic potato, someone beyond our grasp. No, brothers and sisters. George Mueller was a little potato. But as he exercised before God, he became a wonderful pattern to us. No one is born great. It is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration before God.
Here are some quick thoughts about some "dudes" and some "sissies" in the Bible:
1. Adam--hides from God because of his sin (sissy because he had no covering)
2. Saul--hides from Goliath; David fights Goliath
3. Children of Israel cannot conquer some of their enemies because of their iron chariots.
4. Paul, after gets stoned for his gospel preaching, he gets up and goes to next city to do the same
5. Peter dares to ask Jesus to make him walk on water (cool dude--it is like skydiving) however he sinks because his faith falters because he confronts the storm.
There are a lot more that you can come up with.
For our own application, here are some thoughts:
1. Can God do something among you or the church or the fellowship you are part of? Or is the church just declining with barrenness, lukewarmness, hopelessness, etc.? The Christians you are with, are they going on or are they disappearing into the world?
2. Can each one of us do some thing with God or are we just spectators? Pew sitters without having a decent pew?
3. Do you feel that the gospel is closed? Do you have many excuses? Because you are not this or that or the people who you are with is this or that?
There are also a lot more that each one of us can come up with.
After the question that we are addressing, God asks "Is My hand so short that it cannot redeem?" (Isa. 50:2). How long is God's hand? Or to what extent can God stretch His arm? I can picture a superhero who can stretch his arm, all the way from the third heavens to the deepest hell. Some times or all the time, I am faced with persons who go away from the Lord. And often I just give up because I know that my hand is not long enough. However, after reading this verse, I wondered, is this what God is expecting from me? Am I a sissy that give up and label that person hopeless? Actually that person is not hopeless; I am making God hopeless and I making myself a loser. Oh God, I wonder if I can be a little David with 5 smooth stones to knock that giant out! Oh God, don't let me give up. Oh God, strengthen me with your blood and Spirit to rise up for Your will.
People tell me that Americans are closed to the gospel. I am a Korean American. I believe that whoever believes in that are all sissies!!!! I know Korean Christian groups that targets Americans. They do fine with their broken English. I pray that God will bless the church which is in Ann Arbor with many natives. Foreigners are welcome too! However, I believe that I want to defeat that defeated psychology that we cannot reach the community that we live in. May God bless us. Lord, make many men/women for Yourself.
