Isaiah 33:5-6  The Lord is exalted, for He dwells on high;  he will fill Zion with his justice and righteousness. He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salva-tion and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure.    

    I don’t really remember the first time I saw Raiders of the Lost Ark. Or the last time. But there have been several times in between those two! I just love so much about that movie! I especially like how Indiana Jones goes from one clue to the next looking for the Ark of the Covenant. He finds one ‘key’ to the treasure which leads, instead, to the next ‘key.’ If there were just one key that would have made for a much shorter, less exciting movie!

    We’re always looking for keys to things. Perhaps because of the influence of Holly-wood, or just adventure stories in general, we tend to think that, like Indiana Jones, one key will not really lead us to treasure, but simply to another key. 

    Many people would like to find the key to a good relationship with God. But they think that it must be like the treasure hunts of the stories. Hard to find. Elusive. Always just around the next bend. But Isaiah provided such a key for us nearly 3,000 years ago! In today’s passage we read that God is exalted because He dwells on high. He often seems so ‘on high’ that we can’t possibly reach Him. And actually, that’s true. If it’s up to us, we can never reach Him. Fortunately, He reached down to us!  

    We can read in the New Testament of the One about Whom Isaiah prophesied. Jesus wants to be the sure foundation for our times. In fact, He wants to be a rich store of salvation in wisdom and knowledge. This all sounds too good to be true! It sounds like treasure! I know I need wisdom and knowledge to navigate my world! Here is Isaiah saying that God is making the offer to be all of that. Is there a catch? Is there some ‘key’ to all this? 

    Well, yes, there is. He tells us that ‘the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure.’ The fear of the Lord is not always the most popular turn of phrase. We live in a time when people don’t want to be faced with such terms about God. However, even before Isaiah, Solomon wrote that “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” The fear of the Lord brings to mind for many, an angry God that must be appeased. 

    But in the Bible, the fear of the Lord is the proper respect for God. Jesus calls us to come to Him. But we must come to Him on His terms. That makes sense. He is God after all! Thinking that we can use Him at our whim, in our our own way does not show the ‘fear of the Lord.’ In fact, that sort of makes us the one in charge. As though we are the master and God the servant.

     The key is at hand. But a key must be used in the right way to unlock anything. 

   

Blessings

Pastor Russ