“Ah, you who hide deep from the Lord your counsel, whose deeds are in the dark, and who say, ‘Who sees us? Who knows us?’”
– Isaiah 29:15
Isaiah 29:15 is particularly important in light of Isaiah 28. If you listen to the Pray the Word podcast from Isaiah 28, talking about the Lord being wonderful in counsel and excellent in wisdom.
Isaiah 29:15 Reminds Us Not To Hid From the Counsel of God
The very next chapter, Isaiah 29:15 talks about people who hid from the Lord who is our counsel. Whose deeds are in the dark. So basically, the picture is people who say I know better than what God does what is best for my life, and so I don’t take his counsel. I don’t listen to his Word and I disobey his Word, I don’t follow the leadership of his Spirit and I do things on my own. That’s picture. Deeds are in the dark, and almost thinking, it says, “Who sees us? Who knows us?” Maybe nobody will see. Or there won’t be effects of me hiding from the Lord’s counsel, or disobeying the Lord’s counsel, me doing things.
Don’t hide from the counsel of the Lord; heed it because it leads to life.
I think about conversations I have with people, and even in my own heart. So that when I’m talking with people, and somebody will say, “I know God says this in his Word, but I really think I need to do this over here.” And I see my own tendency to do the same. I see this in your Word, but I think this is better over here. And so I hide from the Lord’s counsel. I do something over here. That’s obviously the essence of sin, and the danger is we think we’re doing something good and nobody will be able to tell the effects of that. But it’s not true.
Isaiah 29:15 Is a Warning
This is a warning. Isaiah 29:15 is a warning. Don’t hide from the counsel of the Lord. Don’t turn from the counsel of the Lord. Follow the counsel of the Lord. That’s the way to life. Ignoring, hiding, from the counsel of the Lord is the way to death. Light, darkness. The picture is, you want to experience light, joy in life, then follow the counsel of the Lord. Hear it and obey it. Heed it. The opposite is hiding from the counsel of the Lord. That’s deeds done in the dark, and it doesn’t lead to life and joy as God has designed for you to experience.
This Verse Leads Us To Ask God For Help Obeying Him
So we pray, God help us. Help us today to hear and to heed your counsel. Help us to hear and heed your Word, the leadership of your Spirit. Oh God, keep us from thinking that our ways are better than your ways. That our ideas are better than your ideas. God, keep us from thinking we know better than You. And keep us from thinking that we can hide from you. That we could do things that we won’t be found out, in a sense or that you won’t know. God, keep us from thinking that if we live according to our own counsel instead of yours that there won’t be consequences of that. Dreadful consequences of that.
Please, oh God, keep us from hiding from your counsel today. Help us to hear and heed your Word, follow the leadership of your Spirit. God, please keep us from hiding from your counsel today, and thinking that there won’t be dreadful, disastrous consequences from that. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
