No Substitute

Isaiah 28-29

There is no substitute for faithfulness.
Even if you are tired of fighting.

Some have tried to trade an alliance with the right for a peace treaty with the wrong. But it doesn't work. Yes, the former is hard, but the latter is death. (28:15-16)

Some others have tried pledging legal allegiance the right, while harboring internal loyalties to wrong... That doesn't work either. The world calls it smart, God calls it treason. (29:13)

And then some have thrown all their hearts, and all their weight behind the right... The world calls them weird, God calls them "the work of My hands." The terrors and scorners that come against them He deals with Himself (29:19-20), and all the while, their joy in the Lord increases...

That works...