Daily Manna, Year Two · Day 340 · December 6
The Stability Word
“And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation: the fear of the LORD is his treasure.”
"And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation: the fear of the LORD is his treasure." The word to stay with is stability, and before it is a comforting word, it is a builder's word. The Hebrew word behind it, emunah, is usually translated "faithfulness," and underneath it lies the idea of firmness: something that holds when weight is put on it and does not give way at the joints. The same word describes Moses on the hill during the battle with Amalek. When his arms grew tired, Aaron and Hur held them up, "and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun." Steady there is the same word.
So this verse promises something that holds. The times themselves may stay rough. What God promises is something firm inside them: wisdom, knowledge, and "strength of salvation," a saving strength that comes from Him.
Think about the times these words were spoken into. An enemy army is in the land, and the peace talks have failed: "the ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly." "The highways lie waste, the wayfaring man ceaseth: he hath broken the covenant, he hath despised the cities, he regardeth no man." Yet just before this verse Isaiah says, "The LORD is exalted; for he dwelleth on high." Further on, the chapter looks ahead to a day when all that terror will be only a memory: "Thine heart shall meditate terror. Where is the scribe? where is the receiver? where is he that counted the towers?" The enemy's officials, the men who weighed the tribute and counted the towers, will be gone.
That is the setting of this promise. The firmness came from outside all the plans that had failed, because it came from God. So come back to the end of the verse: "the fear of the LORD is his treasure." The treasure that keeps you steady in shaky times is reverence for the Lord who rules over them, and He does not give way when the weight comes on.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year one reading for day 340 is Lamp and Light (Psalm 119:105).