Passage Reading: Isaiah 43-44
Writing to an audience in captivity, Isaiah brings incredible hope concerning the loving nature of an utterly matchless God. God reminds Israel that He is the one who made them (43:1) and He is thereby the one who will watch over them. There is no reason to fear! He asserts that they are precious in His eyes, and He loves them! (43:4) and He will bring them back from captivity (43:5-7).
He is God alone who is as we saw yesterday, both all-powerful and all-knowing. There is no God like Him who declares what will be and saves His people (43:10-12). He will deliver them from Babylon (43:14-15). He will bring about a second exodus where He delivers His people from captivity no matter how dire their situation looks! He can make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert (43:19) there is nothing that is too hard for Him! He promises water on thirsty land and streams on the dry ground and that His Spirit would one day come which we know has now taken place for all believers since the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2.
Again, He is God alone, there is no God like Him, He’s willing to take contenders but there are none! (44:6-8). The gods of the people are mere idols, made from the same wood that they use for kindling fires (44:9-20).
“I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god. Who is like me? Let him proclaim it.”
Isaiah 44:6b-7a ESV
What an encouraging passage today! To consider God’s plans and purposes for Israel in exile and to know that He doesn’t abandon His people should bring hope to all those who are in Christ and thereby in covenant today. This is the nature of the covenant-keeping faithful God whom we serve! He is a faithful God, and just as He has formed us, He watches over us and brings His plans in creation to pass. While some might worship that which they have made, we have the opportunity to worship the one who made us. The great, incomparable God!
God in His faithfulness didn’t abandon Israel, even though they abandoned Him. They had become weary of Him (43:22) and essentially made it out to seem as if God had asked too much of them! Yet, when they remained faithless, God was faithful and His purposes for Israel ultimately came to pass.
As we read passages like this one today that point to the great magnificence of our God, I think it’s a good time for us to consider how we’ve come to think of Him and serving Him. Do we consider it a blessing to serve the great God and the only true and living God as we see Him described in these passages today? He is the one who formed us and made us! What a privilege! Or have we become wearied and take it for granted that we have the privilege of serving the Lord the God for whom nothing is too hard? The one who is able to make a way in the wilderness and streams in the desert? Does our Christian life consist of heartless box-checking where He wearies us, or worshipful devotion and testimony to the matchless God who is worthy not only of our praise but of our entire lives?
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