Isaiah 8:16-22: in context

In a dark and fearful time, when people are tempted to seek guidance from occult sources, Isaiah calls them back to God. When they tell you to consult the mediums and the wizards who whisper and mutter, he says, should not a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living? And he gives the true source of guidance: turn to the law and to the covenant. If they do not speak according to this word, there is no light for them. The choice is between consulting God and his word, or turning to false and dark sources for guidance.

Isaiah exposes the folly of seeking guidance from false sources. In their fear and uncertainty, people were being urged to consult mediums, wizards, the dead, to find some guidance or reassurance in the occult. And Isaiah asks the pointed question: should not a people consult their God? Why turn to mediums and the dead when the living God is available to be sought? Why consult darkness when God offers his word? The people were being drawn to false sources, and Isaiah calls them back to the true one: turn to the law and the covenant, to God and his word, for the guidance and truth that only he can rightly give. This question, should not a people consult their God, reaches into our own search for guidance. When we are uncertain, fearful, seeking direction or reassurance, we too can be drawn to false sources: to the occult, to fortune-tellers and horoscopes, or more subtly to the endless worldly voices that promise guidance apart from God, to our own speculations, to any source but God himself and his word. And Isaiah's question checks us: should not a people consult their God? Why turn to substitutes when the living God is available to be sought, and has given us his word? Your word, the psalmist says, is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. God has given us himself and his word as the true source of light and guidance; and to turn instead to false or worldly substitutes is to seek light in the dark places where there is none. Isaiah warns that those who do not turn to God's word have no light; they will pass through the land distressed and hungry, driven into darkness. The false sources cannot give the light they promise; only God and his word can. This calls us to seek God and his word for guidance rather than turning to substitutes. When we are uncertain and seeking direction, do we consult our God, turning to him in prayer and to his word for light? Or do we turn to false sources, to the occult, to worldly voices, to anything but God? Should not a people consult their God, Isaiah asks; and the call is to turn to God and his word for the guidance and truth that only he can give, rather than seeking light in the dark places of false sources where there is no morning.

When I am uncertain and seeking guidance or reassurance, do I turn to false sources, whether the occult, worldly voices, or my own speculations, rather than to God and his word, and can Isaiah's question, should not a people consult their God, together with his call to turn to the law and the covenant, move me to seek the living God in prayer and his word for light and direction, rather than seeking guidance in the dark places where there is no morning?