“Thus says the Lord to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held — to subdue nations before him and loose the armor of kings. . . I will go before you and make the crooked places straight; I will break in pieces the gates of bronze and cut the bars of iron. I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that I, the Lord, who call you by your name, am the God of Israel” (Isaiah 45:1-3).
No matter which city of the world a person lives, the daily newspaper has stories about war. We live in a fractured and fighting world where tyranny and the obsession to gain power has no limits. Where is God in the car bombings and shootings? Where is God when innocents die?
Isaiah wrote his Old Testament book 150 years before Cyrus lived and became king of Persia. Through Isaiah’s writings, God wanted Cyrus to know that He would grant him victories, but even more, that He, the true God, controls human affairs.
The biblical account of this king’s life never indicates Cyrus believed in God, but it does show his sympathy and help for God’s people. Cyrus even said, “All the kingdoms of the earth the Lord God of heaven has given me. And He has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah” (Ezra 1:2).
Is there anyone alive today whose ‘victories’ are ordained by God? Or do most fight for personal power and glory? I don’t know the answers to those questions, but I do know that the God who told His prophet what He would do with a king who had not yet been born is a God I can respect, trust and worship. He is not ignorant of that human greed for power, nor is He helpless when that greed acts in senseless ways.
Yet the question remains, where is God in our war-torn world?
Isaiah wrote that God would give Cyrus “the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places” so he would know “that I am the Lord.” This explains why most people think God is not there. While He “is light and in Him is no darkness at all,” we cannot plainly see Him or what He is doing. His activities and blessings seldom make headlines because He works quietly and behind the scenes, only visible to those who look for Him, and to whom He reveals Himself.
The Bible shows that God is sovereignly involved in human history. I cannot explain the death of ‘innocents’ (only know that no one is ‘innocent’ before Him), nor can I tell anyone why the bad guys sometimes win. I only know that God is God. When I look for Him I discover that He is close by, involved, working to make sense of my life, even when at first He seems hidden and I am in darkness. Such a wonder — He makes the same promise to me as He did to Cyrus — He does make the crooked places straight and gives me treasures in darkness and the hidden riches of secret places. This is not so I will always know the mysteries of what He is doing, but be certain of the mystery of who He is.
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