Day 208 – Isaiah 44-48

Talking Points

• As God’s people are about to be taken captive to Babylon, God speaks to them through Isaiah, to prepare them for what they’re facing. He reminds them multiple times that He alone is God! He is the LORD, the King of Israel, the Redeemer, and the Lord of Hosts. He is their Creator, the first and the last, their Rock, the merciful One. He is powerful, faithful, true, and in complete control. He is the Savior, the Deliverer, the One who knows all things and who speaks righteousness. God is the Holy One — there is no one like Him. As they are taken to Babylon and surrounded by evil, they will need to remember who God is.
• God rebukes His people for being obstinate (48:4). It is a word that means hard or unbending. He calls them hardheaded and stiff-necked. His rebuke is for a people who hear the truth, who even know the truth, but are unwilling to yield to it. These unbending people press on in their sins.
• One of the worst consequences of sin is the regret — regret for what is ruined, for what is marred, and, most of all, for what could have been. God’s way is best. He leads us there in His grace. And, can you imagine if we had followed? Oh! What could have been! “If only you had paid attention to My commandments! Then your well-being would have been like a river, And your righteousness like the waves of the sea” (48:18). The good news is that Jesus restores! In Him, what was marred is made clean and what was ruined is restored.

Thoughts

God is logical. His ability to make things make perfect sense makes me smile. That’s what happened as I read these chapters. Because, it is here, repeatedly — “There is no God besides Me.” The Hebrew word for besides means “except, other than.” Literally and certainly, there isn’t one. He is the only God.

And so, God, in His logical way, tells us how ridiculous it is for a frail, mere man to build something with his very own hands and then worship it. Why would we bow down or pray to something that we create? He tells His people that one of the reasons for prophecy is so people would realize their idols were worthless. God is trying to get us to see the foolishness, the absurdity of cutting down a tree that we raised, a tree that needs the rain God sends, using half of it to meet our needs, and then carving the other half into a graven image. “I fall before a block of wood!” (44:19). He’s hoping we’ll see the ridiculousness of asking anything, expecting anything of something we built, something that needs something outside of itself.

I wonder if we still do this, today. Maybe we don’t build graven images with our hands, but do we “tip our hats” to false gods who have no power, who aren’t real, just in case? To cover all our bases? Do we look for provision, satisfaction, protection, joy, in things we create? Do we worship, seek, or serve anything or anyone else?

As we read God’s reasoning with us, let us take it to heart. Let us be sure there is no God besides Him. Let us worship, seek, and serve Him alone.