Isaiah 33:6: “The LORD will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the LORD is the key to this treasure.” [NIV]
Yahweh (YHWH), the LORD, “will be the sure foundation (the stability) for your times.”
Whenever you see “LORD” in all caps in the Old Testament, the original language is usually YHWH, Yahweh. It is the name of God given in four consonants to Moses. It is called “The Tetragrammaton.” In Latin, it became JHVH, Jehovah. It is the most sacred name of God.
Isaiah wrote that the great LORD (YHWH), the Powerful God of Moses, would be the sure foundation for Israel in her times. He then added that the LORD would be “a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge” and that “the fear of the LORD is the key to this treasure.”
May I be so bold to say that the LORD is the sure foundation for our times as well? Stability is lacking in our nation as it was in Isaiah’s. Nothing is sure, no matter how much they try to make it so. The stock market could plummet (again); terrorism could raise its ugly head in our midst in greater measure; a kook with a nuclear device could devastate our cities. Nothing is sure if we are looking to nationalism to make it so.
Isaiah tells us that we do, however, have a key to stability. It is the fear of the LORD. When we fear (respect, reverence, stand in awe) of the LORD we have the key that will open His rich store of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge.
We, as individuals, and corporately as the church, must use that key; we must see a return of respect, reverence, awe of the LORD or we will never experience that sure foundation!
