Isaiah writes about people who rejected God and says this: “You were wearied with the length of your way, but you did not say, ‘It is hopeless’; you found new life for your strength, and so you were not faint.”1 Wait a minute! This does not sound right. Aren’t people who reject God miserable? Aren’t they weak and tired and hopeless? No. Well, some might be, but many are not. As a matter of fact, they are fine. We believers find our strength in God; nonbelievers find their strength in other things.
The difference is this: we believers know we need God; nonbelievers do not know that they need God. And they do not know that they do not know! That’s why Jesus told the disciples, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”2 The “poor in spirit” are not people who are poor, and they are not people who are sad or tired. The “poor in spirit” are people who know that they are spiritless—without spirit, feel incomplete, and long for more. Jesus said those people are “blessed.” Why? Because “the kingdom of heaven” is theirs for the taking. All they have to do is look to God for new life! That’s the good news!
Actually, we are all “poor in spirit.” People who do not look to God to fill their need, just look to other things to fill them up, and find “new life” in elsewhere. Generally, they do not believe that they need God (if he even exists!). They simply find strength and happiness in other places. They are independent and self-sufficient. But because they do not need God, “the kingdom of heaven” is not theirs. That’s what they miss out on! That’s the sad news.
We all know people who appear not to need God. It’s perplexing to us who recognize our need for God until we remember what they are missing out on. The world will always offer alternatives to God. And it usually is quite enticing. The alternatives will feel good and look good and even seem right and logical and the best choice. But in order to truly understand the consequences for those who do not need God, we must finish Isaiah 57. He writes, “But the wicked are like the tossing sea; for it cannot be quiet, and its waters toss up mire and dirt.”3
The first thing to address here is the word “wicked.” It is hard for us to identify people as wicked. The word really is referring to people who are ungodly. But we still have a difficult time labeling people ungodly—especially good people! So, let’s break it down further. Ungodly people are those who reject God and his ways.
So, those who reject God are tossed around like the sea. Those people have no lasting rest in their souls. (Although they may find temporary rest.) They are forever searching. And, according to Isaiah, those people are surrounded by garbage and create garbage. And one more thing. “‘There is no peace,” says my God, ‘for the wicked (ungodly people who reject God and his ways).’”4 Why is that? Because only God can bring true and lasting peace, and the wicked do not want what God offers.
But let’s not point our fingers at the wicked–the nonbelievers who are ungodly because they reject God and his ways. We believers, also, reject God and his ways sometimes. We, also, are tossed around on the sea. When does that happen? Every time we doubt God. James writes, “For the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.”5 How is that any different from the ungodly wicked people? And when we doubt, here’s what happens: “For that person must not suppose he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”6
Isaiah and James make it pretty clear. Doubting God is the same as saying that God is not trustworthy and that we can find another place or person or thing in which to put our trust. So. When we doubt God, we are not behaving like the “poor in spirit” at all. We, independent of God, choose another way in which to be filled. We are acting like the wicked, and “‘there is no peace,” says my God, ‘for the wicked.’” And that’s the really sad news.
1Isaiah 57:10 2Matthew 5:3 3Isaiah 57:20 4Isaiah 57:21 5James 1:6 6James 1:7-8