Isaiah 47

Several years ago, English teacher David McCullough Jr. made national headlines when he told the graduating class from Wellesley High School, “You are not special. You are not exceptional.” Almost immediately after the words left his mouth, the reactions began to roll in from all sides. Surprisingly, the feedback was mostly positive, although there was very strong criticism from some corners.

In his defense, McCullough said that he was trying to help kids realize that they will need to struggle to succeed in today’s competitive world and that they shouldn’t expect that anything will be handed to them on a silver platter: “So many of the adults around them—the behavior of the adults around them—gives them this sort of inflated sense of themselves. And I thought they needed a little context, a little perspective,” McCullough said. “To send them off into the world with an inflated sense of themselves is doing them no favors.”

I saw a bit of this same idea in today’s chapter. This is God speaking to the Babylonians: “Now then, listen, you lover of pleasure, lounging in your security and saying to yourself, ‘I am, and there is none besides me. I will never be a widow or suffer the loss of children.’ Both of these will overtake you in a moment, on a single day: loss of children and widowhood. They will come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and all your potent spells. You have trusted in your wickedness and have said, ‘No one sees me.’ Your wisdom and knowledge mislead you when you say to yourself, ‘I am, and there is none besides me.’ Disaster will come upon you, and you will not know how to conjure it away. A calamity will fall upon you that you cannot ward off with a ransom; a catastrophe you cannot foresee will suddenly come upon you.” (vs 8-11)

Wow, these Babylonians were operating under some serious delusions. In declaring, “I am, and there is none besides me,” what they were saying is that they had set themselves up as gods in their own minds. They trusted only in their own power and strength, believing that everything they had built would never come to ruin.

This is precisely why God warned them that their world would be turned upside down. They would face disaster that they wouldn’t know how to handle—so they would learn that they could not trust in their own wisdom. They would face calamity that they couldn’t avoid with money—so they would learn that they could not trust in their riches. And they would face catastrophe that they couldn’t foresee—so they would learn that all their illusions of control were just that: illusions.

God shatters all our delusions, and He shatters them on purpose. Why? Because it’s the kind thing to do! The sooner we are disabused of all of the lies we tell ourselves, the better. God will show us the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth—even when it’s hard and painful.

So, we need not worry that we’re deluding ourselves about anything. If we are, God will straighten us out. He is not squeamish about shattering our delusions!