Steadfast (Isaiah 26) | Stacey Sweet

The Hebrew word for steadfast in Isaiah 26:3 includes the idea of someone leaning on something. Here it is clear what they’re leaning on: YHWH their God. This is the path to “perfect peace” (Hebrew: shalom shalom; repeated for emphasis). Isaiah seems to be speaking of a peace of mind rooted in our hope in God. Calvin brings out Isaiah’s point thus: There is…an implied contrast between God’s fixed thought and our wandering imaginations; for at almost every moment there springs up something new which drives our thoughts hither and thither, and there is no change, however slight, that does not produce some doubt. We ought therefore to hold this principle, that we do wrong if we judge of God’s unshaken purpose by our fickle imaginations…  Meister Eckhart and Anabaptist Christians use the German word “Gelassenheit” to describe a sort of inner calm rooted in the security we have in God (Martin Heidegger used the same word to describe a form of detachment involving noticeably less God).  If you prefer to listen, stream, and/or watch, join us and subscribe on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@kingwoodmethodist