“In That Day Man Will Have Regard For His Maker?” (Isaiah 17:7)

by Chris Simmons

Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 17:7-8, “In that day man will have regard for his Maker, and his eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel. And he will not have regard for the altars, the work of his hands, nor will he look to that which his fingers have made…” Isaiah spoke of a day when men would no longer trust in themselves or the idols that they had created but would turn to the “Maker” of all mankind. When will we have regard for our Maker?

In the day of prosperity? Will we turn to God when life is going good? Moses issued a warning regarding the temptation that the Israelites would face when they became so blessed by God, to forget Him who gave it to them. “Then it shall come about when the LORD your God brings you into the land which He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you, great and splendid cities which you did not build, and houses full of all good things which you did not fill, and hewn cisterns which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, and you shall eat and be satisfied, then watch yourself, lest you forget the LORD who brought you from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery” (Deuteronomy 6:10-12). Moses went on to say, “Beware lest you forget the LORD your God by not keeping His commandments and His ordinances and His statutes which I am commanding you today; lest, when you have eaten and are satisfied, and have built good houses and lived in them, and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and gold multiply, and all that you have multiplies, then your heart becomes proud, and you forget the LORD your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery … Otherwise, you may say in your heart, 'My power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth.' But you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth” (Deuteronomy 8:11-20). In this place, and in this time, we must realize that we are so blessed by God our Maker. Our blessings have multiplied just as Moses described. Have we forgotten Him who has blessed us? Has our heart become proud? Will we have regard for our Maker in the day of prosperity when life is going well? We must not be ignorant of the schemes of the devil (cf II Corinthians 2:11; Ephesians 6:11) who continually will tempt us to set our minds on the things of this world rather than on the source of all these blessings (cf Colossians 3:1-2; I John 2:15-17).

Will we turn to God in times of adversity? As discussed above, when things are going well, man often doesn’t feel the need for God in his life and gives Him little “regard.” But when troubling times come, it is amazing how often man finds the need to quickly become “religious” and to develop a “regard for his Maker.” In such times, will God receive our petitions and prayers as those of a faithful, loyal and devoted servant or will they be the sounds of a stranger? King Hezekiah faced such a day of adversity when he was told by God, “set your house in order, for you shall die and not live” (II Kings 20:1). But King Hezekiah turned to God at his time of adversity as a faithful servant and he prayed to God saying, “Remember now, O LORD, I beseech Thee, how I have walked before Thee in truth and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in Thy sight” (II Kings 20:3). Could we say as Hezekiah did that we have “walked before Thee in truth and with a whole heart”?

Will we have regard for God in the days of our youth? Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 12:1, “Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near when you will say, 'I have no delight in them'.” Many a young person has planned to have regard for his Maker later on in life when he assumes that it will be easier to serve God, only to find out that Satan never stops putting obstacles in our way and the convenient time never comes (cf Acts 24:25).

Therefore, we who are parents must ask, will we have regard for Maker as we raise our children? Will we “bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4) so that they might learn to have “regard for his Maker” and to do so “from childhood” just as Timothy did (II Timothy 3:14-15). That passage in II Timothy helps teach us of the impact that parents and grandparents can have on their children and grandchildren in regards to their ability to remain faithful to God.

Last, we must understand and live with the fact in our minds that a day is coming when all will have regard for their Maker. Paul wrote in Philippians 2:9-11, “Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” When will we have regard for our Maker? If not now, whether in good times or in bad, we will regard Him in the day of judgment when it will be too late.