“Stop regarding man in whose nostrils is breath. For of what account is he?”
– Isaiah 2:22
Some translations say, “Stop trusting in man.” The whole picture here is God’s people being tempted to trust in men, to trust in other nations instead of putting all their trust in God. God’s saying to them, “Don’t do that. Don’t put your trust in man, in the created. Put your trust in the creator.”
God’s people are tempted to put their ultimate trust in men instead of putting their trust in Him.
Isaiah 2:22 Exhorts Us to Trust Jesus
This is a needed exhortation to us. In each of our lives, I’m tempted, you’re tempted to put our trust in people. Yes, there’s a sense in which that’s right and good. I think about my relationship with my wife. I trust her, and I hope she trusts me. And I know she trusts me, and so that’s a good thing. But ultimately, she is not where I put my ultimate trust, and I don’t want to be where she puts her ultimate trust because I’m not guaranteed to be here today or tomorrow. She’s not guaranteed to be here today or tomorrow, so “Stop regarding man in whose nostrils is breath. For what account is he?”
Even the best people on this Earth, we can’t ultimately depend on, but God. Oh, God, we can ultimately depend on. He’s the creator. He is eternal. His promises are everlasting, like never-ending. We can totally trust in him with our lives. We can trust in him with our marriages. Lord, we can trust in him with our families. We can trust in him with our future. Everything we have. Put your trust in God.
This Verse Calls Us to Trust the Lord
Let’s pray. God, we trust in you. We trust in you with all our hearts. You alone are ultimately trustworthy. We praise you for your trustworthiness. We praise you that your promises are totally true. That your faithfulness is a rock upon which we can build our lives. Not just now or for the next year, for the next 10 years, or for the next 10 trillion years, and on, and on, and on after that. You are trustworthy. Help us, God. Help us to look at men, women around us in view of who you are.
Isaiah 2:22 Leads Us to Place Our Full Trust in Christ
Help us not to put our ultimate faith and trust in anyone or anything in this world. Even great people in this world, God, help us not to put our ultimate trust in them. God, help us to put our ultimate trust in you because we know in the end you alone will always be trustworthy. You alone will always be there. You alone will always be true. Always. Forever, and ever, and ever. So we praise you for your trustworthiness and we say today in our lives, “We put our trust in you.” In Jesus’s name, we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
