Isaiah 22:25 (ESV): In that day, declares the LORD of hosts, the peg that was fastened in a secure place will give way, and it will be cut down and fall, and the load that was on it will be cut off.
Several years ago, I started substitute teaching to supplement my family income. I continue to do so at a local high school. My ministry began with training teenagers, then transitioned to developing adults—it now seems only natural that I should be regularly involved with young people again. I have discovered they like hanging out with old people. They like our stories (if told briefly) and they appreciate a genuine interest in their stories, both the funny and sad, the pleasant and tragic.
Because of past involvement in education and administration, many career educators like discussing various issues with me. I arrived one morning at school and a member of the support staff wondered about my background. His child had recently been in a class and thought my comments beneficial. He asked about my education. I responded that my field of study concentrated on religion and philosophy with supplemental studies in public speaking. This led him to ask if I had read a book he was presently reading, written by a scholarly theologian. I had not. The book focused primarily on sociological/politological/anthropological notions. The staff member described to me some of the findings and conclusions, deeply enmeshed in science more than scripture, and wanted my opinion. I considered the author’s analyses built on a platform different than mine.
In the brief time available, I stated: “I believe that in the DNA of all humans we are religious, meaning we have a natural propensity to worship something. Some worship the intangible, others worship the tangible and most worship elements of both. In the ’50s, some worshipped Elvis Presley; in the ’60s, many worshiped The Beatles; in the ’70s, several worshipped hallucinogenic drugs.
"There are many wonderful benefits connected to worship. However, some types of worship can be harmful when passionately practiced; they can damage the human psyche—celebrity fame, physical allure, sexual obsession, monetary affluence, assertive power.
“In all religions, there is an object of worship and something that triggers it, a high priest of some sort. Follow this train of thought: If Judaism or Christianity is your religion, the high priest that triggers worship is scripture, and the object of worship is God.
"The chief object of worship in the American democratic experiment is a faith in the one true God, utilizing covenant phrases such as, ‘one nation under God’ and ‘In God we trust’. In 1968, this country changed religions, caused mostly by the unrest and frustration with the nation’s involvement in the Vietnam War.* This modern religious replacement is actually based on ideas coming out of the 16th Century Enlightenment era.
“Where does this nation find herself today? Her religion is Secularism, the high priest triggering worship is science, and the object of worship is self.
"The Me Generation (my generation) started the shift that now challenges traditional liberties and values. The question we face today is: Have we come to the point of no return? It normally takes three generations to permanently alter cultural values and we are in the third generation since 1968. I will let you come to your own conclusion.”
I recently read something penned by E. Stanley Jones, onetime Wesleyan missionary to India: “If God goes, then everything worthwhile goes too. Everything lacks basis, permanence, and ultimate meaning. The whole situation is summed up in these words: ‘And then—so the Lord of hosts declares—the peg driven in so firmly shall be wrenched out and give way, till everything that hung upon it shall come down’ (Isaiah 22:25 Moffatt). When the peg of material civilization upon which we have hung everything is wrenched out by economic dislocation and gives way, then everything we have hung on it—our plans, our hopes, our futures—gives way with it and goes down in a crash. We have hung everything on the wrong peg, the insecure peg of money. That peg should have been God; for, as God holds amid the stress of things, everything holds."
It is not easy today to choose faith in God because the basis of existence has changed from the traditional (things evaluated) to the scientific (things weighed and measured). In the traditional realm, you evaluate what was passed on from generation to generation and determined true, but in the scientific climate, everything must be weighed and measured and verified as true because science believes only in verified knowledge. Can the information we live by be solely a verified knowledge when the understanding of life is an evaluated hypothesis? This is an impossible dualism.
Jones concludes by writing, “The pegs on which we have hung our modern civilization are coming down. A 'sensate society' (a society formulated by the scenes) has exhausted itself against the facts of life; it is becoming bankrupt.”
Then what is the answer? Where does one turn when it is determined that society has become culturally bankrupt? Where does one find hope, which is critical for living with certainty, calmness, and confidence? Where does one gain peace when the basis of human existence is now built only on a verified knowledge instead of rooted in an evaluated hypothesis? Where does one search for truth when science, the current benchmark for knowledge, appears laid on unstable ground, only temporal, having conclusions often proven untrue by better details and more exact evidence?
The ancient prophet Isaiah gave God’s solution just two verses before his warning: “And I will fasten him like a peg in a sure place, and he will become a throne of honor to his father’s house.” (v.23)
The place made sure is the crucified Christ who was nailed to a cross and resurrected as the everlasting truth.
“We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever….” (Hebrews 6:19–20 ESV)
Pray for divine grace and tender mercy to be upon the nation, pray for a
revival in the church and a spiritual awakening throughout the land (it
happened before; it can happen again), but let the Holy Spirit fasten you to the
sure place of Jesus Christ, who is seated on his throne in the Heavenly Father’s
kingdom—the place of everlasting hope. Make sure your hang your hope on the Peg in a sure place.
*The upheaval brewing in the ’60s is also linked to the 1963 sensational singing group The Beatles, the precursor of worship displacement. When Beatlemania became a religion, the high priest that triggered worship was sensual music, and the object of worship was utopia. Beatlemania (the urge for utopia) and Vietnam (an unwarranted war) created the perfect dislodging force working against tradition.
**For those who like to ponder and think, three books can help give a more in-depth reading on the subject. I recommend they be read in this order: Mark Sayers’ books The Road Trip and Strange Days, followed by Os Guinness’ book Last Call for Liberty. Warning: This is not bedstand reading material, browsed when weary and wishing to sleep. Your thinking cap is required.
