Beyond Human Skills Isaiah 17:10 You have forgotten God your Savior; you have not remembered the Rock, your fortress. Therefore, though you set out the finest plants and plant imported vines, Isa 17:11 though on the day you set them out, you make them grow, and on the morning when you plant them, you bring them to bud, yet the harvest will be as nothing
The best brains all over the world are now trying to stave off the economic downturn.
They are like the agrarian people of Judah who were the best brains and most experienced in growing crops. They choose the best imported vines.
I too have a grape vine growing in my garden just starting to bear fruit (see photo).
I chose to grow sweet grapes for eating and not grapes for making wine which tends to be sour.
So I bought what is the best available from the garden center.
The best available is a local vine.
But in other places like Judah, they may want to import the best foreign grape vines.
This "imported vines" in Isa 17:10 may allude to the context of the passage whereby King Ahaz of Judah (South Israel) was tempted and in fact did go into alliance with foreign "imported" forces (Assyria) to ward off attacks by Syria and Israel (North Israel) (see Isa 7:1).
With all their skill and experience - Isaiah perhaps sarcastically said - that they were able to make the grape vine bud all within one day after planting them in the morning.
However, in spite of their skills, there will be no harvest - since they have forgotten God.
As we experience the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression of 1932, have we forgotten God? Can we trust God? Is God wanting to destroy us?
When we are in the midst of the struggle, we are all tempted to trust in what we can see - the governments and companies. But now, all this trust and confidence in ourselves and in corporations and nations are shaken.
Is God wanting to destroy us with all these problems?
I believe that God is wanting to refine His people and purify the nations.
God wants us to trust in Him and not in our human skills or even the nations because now, all the greatest powers from the US to Europe cannot stave off the downturn.
And neither can Assyria help Judah. Just as Judah needs to turn to God and not to the nations, we ought to turn to trust God and not the governments or our human ingenuity.
Isaiah prophesied in Isa 17 that Judah's enemy, Damascus - representing Syria - will be gone in a couple of years. And in time to come, so would their proposed ally, Assyria (Isa 14:25).
But the people of Judah and the king didn't quite believe Isaiah.
Without faith, this scenario is played out all the time in our lives.
Imagine, if a modern day Isaiah would to stand in Singapore after she has fallen to the Japanese in Feb 1942 that the Japanese would be gone in three years or Hitler would be gone in three years, how would the demoralized Singaporeans take the news?
Many would have thought it was wishful thinking.
They can't see what God saw.
They have forgotten who is the Maker (Isa 17:7) "For the LORD Almighty has purposed and who can thwart Him?" (Isa 14:27)
This brings me to the word I was led to release to our church on 22 June 08 and published in my blog on 7 Aug 08.
Since I am living in Auckland, I gave the word in the context as far as I know of New Zealand.
The word was that "the worst of the NZ economy and property market is not yet here - perhaps in 2010".
In June 2008, many kiwis still believed that our kiwi property market is resilient and has never fallen much. It had remained about flat even in bad years. And the advice taken by most people is that any time is a good time to buy property because prices would be higher at the next upturn.
Well now that prices have come a lot down, would we take such advice?
In any case, the word has come to pass in an extraordinary fashion because the economic fallout since Sep 08 is not just about NZ, but global.
Another part of the word I released was that "The easing of interest rate will help house owners in servicing mortgages. But this means that the kiwi $ will be under pressure - and so has declined against other currencies."
This word has also come to pass. In Jul 08, the exchange rate was S$1.04 = NZ$1.00.
In Oct 08, the S$ strengthened to under S$0.90 = NZ$1.
By Jan 09, the S$ is now under S$0.80 = NZ$1.
As in Isaiah, is it all doom and gloom and all judgment?
Isaiah also spoke a message of hope - but after the judgment.
There will be a remnant (Isa 17:6 - some gleanings will remain).
There is another part of the word - "worst ... is not yet here. Perhaps in 2010."
Seek the Lord if this is His word.
If this is so, we look forward to the time and I am looking forward to that time 2010 / 2011.
What does it mean for us who have faith in God and His word if we hear Him correctly (correct thus far)?
1. Now is the time to save as much as we can.
2. A time is coming when the S$ (perhaps Malaysian Ringgit also) will be able to buy more NZ$. Interest rates for NZ$ have come down drastically and just yesterday (29 Jan), the Reserve Bank has cut interest rates by a drastic 1.5% - beyond the generally expected 1% cut.
3. 2010 / 2011 may be a good time to look into investing in NZ properties again and may God bless His people to be the Joseph generation.
I see the Joseph generation buying up land and properties because as in Gen 47:20, the people "the Egyptians, one and all, sold their fields, because the famine was too severe for them."
People will come to us and offer us land and properties at giveaway prices - especially if we have S$ or other strong foreign currencies.
And we are actually helping people because some need to divest their assets if not their banks will foreclose on their properties.
Disclaimer: As each individual's financial position is different, readers are advised to seek their own independent financial advice for their specific situation.
