Conspiracy Coping

Verses
Isaiah 8:12-13
Who doesn’t love a good conspiracy theory? Area 51, grassy knolls, moon landings, shadow governments, and disappearances of my socks in the wash all interest me at some level. Some conspiracies are a little more ominous, like 911, Oklahoma City, and big pharma. Others are being birthed right now about COVID-19. I do not know what you think of them, but I find most to be entertaining and also an interesting way to pass some of my quarantine time.

Devotion
What does God think of conspiracies? Hmmm. I imagine – and this is just me – that He winks and smiles knowingly at all of them, and that He is entertained by His children’s overactive imaginations.

Except when those overactive imaginations about conspiracies turn into real fear and paranoia. God isn’t laughing then.

In my Bible reading through the book of Isaiah, I actually stumbled on a reference to a conspiracy theory and God’s response to it.

Judah, a small nation of people, noticed that to the north, their sister country of Israel had formed an alliance with a common enemy named Syria. This pact was made ostensibly to guard against invasion from a third country and world power, Assyria. The king of Judah and all of the people were understandably very concerned that each of the other three nations had intentions of eventually destroying Judah. They began to imagine a conspiracy between Israel and Syria, and out of fear of invasion, they allied themselves with Assyria.

Confused? Don’t be. Just know that everyone was running around in paranoid fear of a conspiracy of their own imagination. In fact, while they guarded against an invasion from enemies abroad, they didn’t notice an equally lethal invasion that snuck into their minds and spirits – the enemies of fear, paranoia, and conspiracy.

What did God think of this? Isaiah says…

This is what the Lord says to me with his strong hand upon me, warning me not to follow the way of this people:

“Do not call conspiracy
everything this people calls a conspiracy;
do not fear what they fear,
and do not dread it.

Make the Lord of Heaven’s Armies holy in your life. He is the one you should fear. He is the one who should make you tremble.”

When you do not make God the most significant fact in your thinking, you leave yourself wide open to paranoia, fear, and yes, conspiracy theories that may or may not ever come to pass. Either this world is randomly spinning through space and everything that happens is the result of chance in which case you have cause to be afraid, or God exists and everything that happens is ultimately orchestrated to bring about His intentions for each one of us in which case there is no reason for fear, dread, or conspiracy. It is up to each of us to decide what will dominate our thinking.

Now what in the world happened to my other sock…?