- 18. Stay upon the Lord
Isaiah 10:20 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that smote them, but shall stay upon the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.
The remnant of Israel is the group of faithful believers in the Lord. The group is a remnant in that it is minority of all Israelites, but it is still a substantial number of people. This faithful remnant brought about the Savior of the world. The Messiah was born, lived, died, and rose again to gather a new faithful remnant of faithful disciples around Him, which becomes the Church of the New Testament, fulfilling the prophecies and enjoying the promises of God from the Old Testament.
The promise of God for the remnant is that those believers will stay upon the Lord. We shall lean on Him, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. God promises that we will trust in Him in all things, and along with that trust, we will never be disappointed. He is true to His Word; the only problem is unbelief, which cannot trust in God alone above all things. The crazy part is that we have been trusting (staying upon) in those things that have been doing us harm. Satan’s deceptions and temptation are so subtle and powerful that humans continue to trust things and people that will not only let us down, but also actually harm us. We trust in the things the devil provides for us and then he turns around and smites us with it.
Trust not in horses and chariots (governments and armies). Trust not in uncertain riches and worldly wealth. Trust not in people, for all are weak sinners, and they are not able to be faithful to their promises. Most of all, trust not (lean not) in your own understanding, for our own pride deceives us into thinking our way is the only right way, just because it is what I think.
The Lord says, “Trust Me!” That is not so easy; easy to say, hard to do. Sure, we believe in God, we believe in Jesus, but trusting Him for all things is actually impossible for sinners to do. Nevertheless, the Lord promises that will trust Him. He gives us the faith to “stay upon the Lord.” We slip, we fall, and we lean on Him. God promises to give us the faith we need for every situation, circumstance, and crisis.