Isaiah 50:10, commentary and pictures

Even those who reverence the Lord and obey the voice of His servant, Christ, may walk in darkness with no light and no clear view of the way forward, and in that condition they are commanded to trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon their God. To trust and stay means to rest upon Him as support, strength, courage and sure help, keeping mind and heart stayed upon Christ by faith, leaning on His sure promise and casting helpless need upon His mercy. Darkness, distress and gloomy feelings do not prove that God has forsaken anyone or that His promises have failed, for His power to uphold is greater than Satan's power to distress. In contrast, those who kindle their own fire of human wisdom, plans and self-chosen guidance and walk in its sparks will lie down in sorrow. The safe course in darkness is not to rush ahead or arrange matters by finite ideas, but to stand still, wait patiently, watch and pray, and commit soul and body to God until He disperses the clouds.

Wording and Setting

The voice to be obeyed is Christ's own, and the call to trust and stay is His pointing to His own example of resting upon the wisdom and strength of the Heavenly Father with assurance of help so as not to be confounded or ashamed.

The verse stands within Isaiah 48, 49, 51 and 52 as showing the work to be done now, and within Isaiah 50 through 58 as the Lord's reproof to His people. With Isaiah 50-56 joined to Isaiah 60-63 it gives precious instruction and assurance containing the highest instruction possible for man to gain, the words and teachings of Christ which are the words and teachings of Jehovah. It is to be carefully read and studied with prayer for willingness to do God's bidding, studied by leaders in the cause and those connected with institutions and by those in high positions carrying great responsibilities who have had great light, and its underlying principles are to be impressed upon minds and hearts and appreciated as the highest instruction at whatever age and for whatever line of work. Those addressed are charged not to accept only the word they choose but to make thorough work of consecration to God, and not to neglect the duty to warn the people what is truth lest judgment from the Lord come. When complaining and every evil work are stopped the Lord will manifest His power in the conviction and conversion of souls, and heeding the reproof prepares for the reformation in which Isaiah 60 and 61 will be understood. The work shown is a united and determined effort without delay, decided work in the cities with increased workers to meet its demands, talking, praying and believing, bringing in means for soul-saving, girding on the armor, reconsecration and harmony with the Lord God and with Christ His only begotten Son, proclaiming the message throughout the world, lay members who have means helping without delay, and resisting temptation to enter commercial enterprises in order to invest means in the Lord's work. Studied aright it strengthens spiritual eyesight and makes faith in the Word firm when every conceivable thing is brought in to confuse God's people.

To trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon God is to rest upon Him as support, strength, courage and sure help. It means keeping mind and heart by faith stayed upon Jesus Christ, watching and praying, waiting on the Lord, looking to Him, seeking His counsel, inquiring of His word at every step and seeking Him in prayer for light and knowledge, leaning on His sure promise. It means coming to God just as one is, polluted with sin, helpless and hopeless, without hunting up worthiness in self to become acceptable, and casting oneself upon His mercy and His worthiness so that human necessity becomes His opportunity. It calls for living, abiding faith that stays alive amid darkness and gloom instead of sinking under the cloud, never distrusting God but venturing out in continual trust, trusting that though hidden for a moment He will again appear and disperse the fog and clouds. Heeding this counsel makes those who heed it strong, useful, capable Christians of good courage and good reputation. Its promising words are to be claimed in times of emergency, spiritual lack, resistance to help, halting, disaffection and counterworking unbelief, with faith strong in God proved true in the past, refusing discouragement and refusing to take up and repeat words of unbelief, but repeating His encouraging words as a strong testimony and communicating that encouragement to others.

Promise to the Faithful

Even those who revere the Lord and heed the voice of His servant may walk in darkness and have no light, with no clear view of the way ahead. In that condition they are both invited and commanded to trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon their God, relying wholly upon Him. The invitation is extended to every sincere soul in such darkness, and the same call to trust and depend reaches ministers whose intemperance has put them in darkness with no light and those who have been in any measure blinded by the enemy and have not fully recovered from his snare. Their peril is that they cannot discern heaven's light from falsehood, so that thoughts, decisions, propositions, and counsels are affected, because by choosing darkness rather than light they have blinded their own eyes until the evidences given are no evidence to them.

The word speaks hope and courage to every sincere, afflicted, tried, and tempted soul in that place. It meets even the backsliding one who is full of remorse and pain yet retains a living spark of hope that God is just and good, leading such a one to the river of God's love. In the present day it calls for seeking the Lord, for diligent repentance of all sins, for working righteousness, and for exercising faith against the unbelief and lack of faith that endanger the soul, with the grace of Christ needed for true virtue of character, and its language must not be disregarded or misunderstood.

Darkness, distress, discouragement, and gloomy feelings do not prove that God has forsaken anyone or that His promises have failed. Faith in God is to remain firm whatever is felt, offering comfort in affliction and uncertainty through faith and dependence on God. The darkness may be a time when faith is buried beneath Satan's shadow, yet through grace the soul can act in faith and hope, for Christ's power to uphold and strengthen is greater than Satan's power to distress and annoy. That encouragement holds even during spiritual discouragement marked by lack of spiritual life, resistance to help, halting, and disaffection among believers, remembering that God has proved faithful in the past.

God is not heartless and vindictive as human agents are, but knows the struggle and anguish of the soul with great mercy. He knows every impulse of the heart, every circumstance of temptation, and every deed of the past life, being mercy and compassion as well as loving and just. Therefore such a soul has less to fear from God than from hard-hearted men who misjudge and condemn without reading the heart, and it is better to fall into the hand of the Lord than into the hand of man, turning from human condemnation to Him and coming to Jesus for pardon and sanctification rather than despairing. Affliction and trial are His appointed means of disciplining His children and teaching them His way, that they may lay hold of His grace, until suffering makes them patient, trustful, and triumphant in God under adverse circumstances, coming forth as gold purified.

Danger of Self-Made Light

Isaiah 50:10 sets trust in the Lord against the course described in the next verse, where those who kindle their own fire and compass themselves about with sparks and walk in its light shall lie down in sorrow, and that sorrow comes from God Himself. The promise belongs to those who fear the Lord and obey the voice of His servant though they walk in darkness and have no light, for they are to trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon their God, while the warning falls on those who make their own light and follow it instead. That contrast applies to any who have been in any measure blinded by the enemy and have not fully recovered from the snare of Satan, who are in peril because they cannot discern the light from heaven and are inclined to accept falsehood, so that their thoughts, decisions, propositions, and counsels are affected. Their condition comes because they have blinded their own eyes by choosing darkness rather than light, so that the evidences God has given are no evidence to them, and instead of trusting God they originate what they call light, which God calls sparks of their own kindling, by which they direct their steps, and for that course they shall lie down in sorrow.

Those self-made sparks are finite human wisdom, inventions, plans, theories, judgments, desires, habits, and self-chosen guidance followed instead of Christ's teaching, example, and word. To create light in finite human wisdom and follow human inventions, to rely on one's own plans and wisdom, to act from selfish motives and human judgment instead of God's guidance, and to depend on human judgments rather than on God who can restore His image in people and through His grace equip them to do the work He has chosen for them, is to walk in common, unsacred fire whose outcome is sorrow. When human wisdom offers only uncertain light, God's enduring Word stands as the dependable old-fashioned lamp. Those confused by falsehood and unable to discern heaven's light must therefore depend on God rather than accept human theories as truth, and those left to the troubles produced by their human wisdom, as when counsel to spread the work from Battle Creek to other places was ignored, show the same peril.

By choosing darkness rather than light people blind their own eyes, leaving them unable to discern heaven's light from falsehood, with whole thoughts, decisions, propositions, and counsels affected and in peril. The darkness includes being unable to discern heaven's light, and inventing a supposed light of one's own leads instead to sorrow. For those given evidence of God's work who refuse its message, the need is humility and willingness to yield rather than more evidence instead of persisting in unbelief. Refusal of received light turns light into darkness, until they come to treat what they once loved as hateful.

The warning thus exposes rejecting God's instruction for one's own devices, and strife and acting in one's own wisdom, as failure to trust and obey God. It calls professed commandment-keepers at the heart of the work who practice injustice and oppression to forsake their wicked way and unrighteous thoughts and return to the Lord for abundant pardon, because God's thoughts and ways are higher than theirs.

Waiting and Trusting in Trial

Even one who reveres the Lord and heeds the voice of His servant may walk in darkness with no light and no clear view of the way forward, and in that condition the command is to trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon God. The safe course then is not to venture ahead but to stand still, be of good courage, patiently wait, and commit the keeping of soul and body to God. It forbids becoming impatient, rash and presumptuous, rushing ahead when the Lord's way is not known, arranging matters by finite ideas independently of God, or making a providence for oneself. Abraham's failure to wait for the promise to be fulfilled in God's own time and way illustrates the same lesson, that God's word and timing are to be trusted rather than forced by human devising.

Staying upon God means keeping mind and heart by faith stayed upon Jesus Christ, watching and praying, waiting on the Lord, looking to Him and to Christ rather than to human beings, seeking His counsel, inquiring of His word at every step, and seeking Him in prayer for light and knowledge. It means depending wholly on Christ for success and divine strength, making no claim on own merit or faithfulness, recognizing weakness and need of a changed character, and making Him strength, courage and sure support rather than relying on own understanding. It calls for coming just as one is, polluted, helpless and hopeless, without hunting up worthiness to become acceptable, casting helpless sinful need upon His mercy and worthiness so that human necessity becomes His opportunity, in living abiding faith that stays alive amid darkness and gloom instead of sinking, venturing in continual trust. The entrance of His word gives light and understanding to the simple, so its grand themes are to be studied and given entrance rather than kindling human fire, and deeper piety is to be sought to endure the coming test and conflict, trusting that though He is hidden for a moment He will again appear and disperse fog and clouds.

It is not yet too late for wrongs to be righted, because Jesus is a risen living Saviour and Advocate in the courts of heaven. As soon as the sinner sees sin in the light of God's word, repents, seeks pardon with contrition of soul, and confesses, the Lord hears and answers. The discouraged sinner can therefore come to Jesus for pardon and sanctification and for the grace needed for true virtue of character, trusting a loving, merciful and just God rather than despairing. The present day is the time to seek the Lord, make diligent repentance of all sins, work righteousness, and exercise faith against the unbelief that endangers the soul, and this language of hope and courage to the afflicted must not be disregarded or misunderstood.

This trust is to be claimed in times of emergency, when disappointed by spiritual lack in churches and individuals, when meeting those unwilling to be helped, when finding halting and disaffection among believers, and when counterworking unbelief assembles with a strong spirit of unbelief and strange spirits. At such times faith is to stay strong in God proved faithful and true in the past, leaning on His sure promise, refusing discouragement, refusing to take up and repeat words of unbelief, but repeating His encouraging words as strong testimony and communicating that encouragement to others. Those who fear the Lord yet walk in darkness appear in the church as the unsettled, not rooted and grounded, with half-hearted cold complaining testimonies, feet ready to stray into forbidden paths, always telling of temptation and defeat and wavering in danger of losing their souls. Members, elders, deacons, and Sabbath-school teachers and officers bear responsibility to look after the weak, straying and tempted, to plant straying feet on the eternal Rock by precept and example, and to lead the young into safe paths counting every selfish interest as nothing in order to win souls, showing a decided need of reformation in every branch of the work.

Warnings to Church Leaders

Gospel ministers who are intemperate in eating walk in darkness and have no light, even while professing to fear the Lord and obey the voice of His servant. That intemperance disqualifies them from seeing clearly the difference between sacred and common fire and reveals disregard for the warnings the Lord has given. The call to trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon God urges them to draw near to the Lord, humble themselves before Him, and put away all intemperance in eating and drinking, all unholy lustful passion, all wickedness, and everything that corrupts flesh and spirit, so that in the fear of the Lord they may perfect holiness of character.

Those who fear the Lord and obey His servant may still walk in darkness without light, and in that state they are to trust in the Lord and stay upon their God. Disregarding repeated counsel to divide the labor and means centered in Battle Creek and to establish missionary centers in many cities, and keeping the work centered there because it was more convenient, is kindling a fire and compassing oneself about with sparks and walking in the light of one's own fire. God leaves those who follow their own plans and wisdom to the troubles this produces, whose fruit is confusion, perplexity, and dearth of means, and this shall end in lying down in sorrow.

Men connected with the cause who do not believe the third angel's message and who say in heart, spirit, words, and actions that the Lord delays His coming walk in darkness in the imaginations of their own hearts instead of trusting in the name of the Lord and staying upon God. Though sent from place to place on important business, they are imbued with the secret working of Satan, lack the Spirit of God, and have been separated from God since the Minneapolis meeting.

The verse stands in Isaiah 50-58 as the Lord's reproof to His people that leaders in the cause and those connected with institutions must study, especially those in high positions carrying great responsibilities who have had great light. It charges them not to accept only the word they choose but to make thorough work of consecration to God, and warns that neglecting the duty to warn the people what is truth will bring judgment from the Lord. When complaining and every evil work are stopped the Lord will manifest His power in the conviction and conversion of souls, and heeding this reproof prepares for the reformation in which Isaiah 60 and 61 will be understood.

Together with Isaiah 48, 49, 51, and 52 the verse shows the work to be done now, and is to be carefully read and studied with prayer for willingness to do God's bidding. That work is a united and determined effort with no delay: decided work in the cities, increased workers to meet the demands of city work, talking, praying, and believing, bringing in means for soul-saving, girding on the armor, reconsecration and harmony with the Lord God and with Christ His only begotten Son, and proclaiming the message throughout the world. Lay members who have means are to help without delay, and Satan's temptation to enter commercial enterprises in order to invest means in the Lord's work is to be resisted.

The verse counseled Sister Israel in her distress to heed the Lord's word and keep trusting in Him. It applies to those who followed the guidance they had received from God despite opposition and uncertainty, teaching that obedience does not prevent a season of walking in darkness without light. It also applies to those who have been given evidence of God's work but refuse its message: their need is humility and willingness to yield rather than more evidence, depending on God rather than persisting in unbelief.