“The Lord has given me a strong warning not to think like everyone else does. He said, ‘Don’t call everything a conspiracy, like they do, and don’t live in dread of what frightens them. Make the Lord of Heaven’s Armies holy in your life. He is the One you should fear. He is the One who should make you tremble. He will keep you safe.’”
— Isaiah 8:11–14 NLT
We live in an anxious world.
Every day we are surrounded by alarming headlines, political arguments, social media outrage, predictions of disaster, economic uncertainty, wars, rumors, conspiracy theories and endless reasons to be afraid.
It is easy to get caught up in it.
We can spend so much time listening to what everyone else is saying that we forget to listen to what God is saying.
That is exactly the situation Isaiah was facing when God gave him this strong warning:
“Don’t think like everyone else does.”
That word is still relevant today.
1. Don’t let fear become your worldview
God told Isaiah, “Don’t live in dread of what frightens them.”
Notice that God didn’t say there would be nothing frightening around them.
There were genuine threats. There were real enemies. There were legitimate reasons for concern.
But God was telling His people not to allow those things to control their hearts.
There is a difference between being aware and being afraid.
We need to know what is happening in the world, but we don’t have to live in dread of it.
Fear says, “Everything is falling apart.”
Faith says, “God is still in control.”
Fear looks at the circumstances.
Faith looks at the Lord.
2. Be careful what fills your mind
We are constantly being discipled by something.
News feeds disciple us.
Social media disciples us.
Friends disciple us.
Podcasts disciple us.
Culture disciples us.
But Scripture calls us to allow God’s Word to shape the way we think.
Romans 12:2 says:
“Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.”
What we continually listen to will eventually influence how we think.
And what we think will influence how we live.
If we spend hours consuming fear, outrage and speculation, we shouldn’t be surprised when anxiety begins to fill our hearts.
We need to ask ourselves:
What is shaping my thinking?
3. Don’t call everything a conspiracy
God specifically warned Israel about the tendency to see conspiracy everywhere.
That doesn’t mean that conspiracies never exist.
It means we shouldn’t become obsessed with looking for them.
There will always be things we don’t understand.
There will always be unanswered questions.
There will always be people with hidden motives.
But we don’t need to have an explanation for everything in order to have peace.
Sometimes the most spiritual thing we can say is:
“I don’t know—but I know God.”
We don’t have to figure everything out.
We have to trust the One who does.
4. Don’t allow the crowd to determine your response
God said, “Don’t think like everyone else does.”
That can be difficult because we naturally want to fit in.
When everyone around us is angry, it is easy to become angry.
When everyone is afraid, it is easy to become afraid.
When everyone is complaining, it is easy to complain.
When everyone is predicting disaster, it is easy to join in.
But God’s people are called to be different.
We don’t have to respond to the world the way the world responds.
We can respond with faith instead of fear, prayer instead of panic, wisdom instead of speculation, and hope instead of despair.
5. Make the Lord holy in your life
This is the heart of the passage:
“Make the Lord of Heaven’s Armies holy in your life.”
Before Isaiah talks about what we should stop fearing, he tells us what we should start honoring.
God must become bigger in our thinking.
When we magnify our problems, our problems become enormous.
When we magnify God, we begin to see our problems in their proper perspective.
The answer to unhealthy fear isn’t simply telling ourselves, “Don’t be afraid.”
The answer is to see God for who He really is.
He is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
He is greater than every government.
Greater than every enemy.
Greater than every crisis.
Greater than every uncertainty.
Greater than anything that causes us to tremble.
6. Fear God more than you fear people
God said:
“He is the One you should fear.”
Biblical fear of God isn’t primarily terror. It is reverence, awe, honor and recognizing His greatness.
When we fear God properly, other fears begin to lose their power.
If I am more concerned about what people think than what God thinks, people control me.
If I am more afraid of tomorrow than I trust God with tomorrow, fear controls me.
If I am more fascinated by the darkness than I am confident in God’s light, the darkness begins to dominate my thinking.
But when God occupies His rightful place in our hearts, everything else begins to find its proper place.
7. Remember where your safety comes from
God concludes this warning with an extraordinary promise:
“He will keep you safe.”
That doesn’t mean Christians will never experience trouble.
Isaiah himself would experience difficult circumstances.
Jesus never promised His followers a trouble-free life.
But God promises something deeper than a trouble-free life:
His presence.
We don’t know everything that tomorrow will bring.
But we know who will be with us when tomorrow arrives.
Our security isn’t ultimately found in having all the answers.
Our security is found in God Himself.
8. Don’t let the world steal your peace
There is a spiritual battle for our attention.
The enemy would love nothing more than to keep God’s people constantly distracted, angry, frightened and consumed by everything happening around them.
But Jesus calls us to something different.
He says:
“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give.”
— John 14:27 NLT
The world cannot give us the peace we need.
And the world cannot take away the peace Jesus gives unless we allow its voices to become louder than His.
Turn down the noise.
Open the Word.
Pray.
Worship.
Listen for God’s voice.
And remember who is still on the throne.
9. Choose faith when fear comes knocking
Fear will come.
The question isn’t whether we will ever experience fear.
The question is what we will do with it when it comes.
When fear says, “What if everything goes wrong?”
Faith says, “God will be with me.”
When fear says, “Who knows what is going to happen?”
Faith says, “God already knows.”
When fear says, “I don’t know how this will work out.”
Faith says, “I don’t have to know. I trust Him.”
Faith doesn’t deny reality.
Faith puts reality in the hands of God.
10. Keep your eyes on Jesus
There will always be another crisis.
Another headline.
Another controversy.
Another prediction.
Another reason to be afraid.
But Jesus remains the same.
Hebrews 13:8 says:
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”
That is where our confidence rests.
Not in political leaders.
Not in economic conditions.
Not in predictions.
Not in social media.
Not in our ability to understand everything happening around us.
Our confidence rests in Jesus.
Final Thoughts
Isaiah’s message is remarkably relevant:
“Don’t think like everyone else does.”
Don’t allow the fear of the culture to become your fear.
Don’t allow the anxiety of the crowd to become your anxiety.
Don’t become consumed with speculation and conspiracy.
Don’t spend so much time watching the world that you stop looking to God.
Instead:
Make the Lord holy in your life.
Honor Him.
Revere Him.
Trust Him.
Listen to Him.
Worship Him.
And remember that He is greater than whatever is frightening you today.
The world may be shaking.
But God isn’t.
The future may be uncertain.
But God isn’t.
We may not know what tomorrow holds.
But we know who holds tomorrow.
So don’t think like everyone else does.
Think God’s thoughts.
Trust God’s promises.
Follow God’s Word.
And keep your eyes on Jesus.
