We, humans have the tendency to be our own gods. The advancement of technology and the many exploits we have been able to accomplish as a race often make us think we are so knowledgeable and above others in all that we do and that puffs us up. Of all the creatures that the Lord God has made, man is the only one made in His image and also the only one that loves to equate himself to His creator. There are two things that the bible is very clear that God hates: 1) pride or a proud heart and 2) idolatry. I don’t know that there are sins that are so abominable in the eyes of the Lord than those two. The God we serve is a jealous God who has said multiple times that He does not and would not share His glory with anyone. So anything that is raising itself or himself up against the glory of God is detestable to Him. In my continuous reading of the book of Isaiah this week, this truth became more prominent. In many of the chapters, God was the principal subject and was displaying His might, His power and His ability to know the beginning from the end, basically His sovereignty. As I write today, my goal is to steer us to think deeply about who God is and our daily actions that often thwart His wisdom in our lives.
In Isaiah 44, God tells the people of Israel that He is the one who formed them, He made them and for that reason they should not be afraid. The fact that the One who made you tells you to do anything should simply result in direct obedience to Him but that is not usually what we see with the human race. In chapter 45, God talks about raising His servant Cyrus, the king of a pagan nation who will deliver God’s people from the Babylonians and rebuild the temple of the Lord. As a sovereign God who knows all things, He asks a question in anticipation to what his audience would say and it reads “Concerning things to come, do you question me about my children, or give me orders about the work of my hands?” (Isaiah 45:11). From this statement alone, it is evident that you, as a spectator or a creature do not question the Maker of all things on what He does. Moreover, the one who forms has direct authority over the object of his craft, so with God as our potter and maker, we do not have the right to question Him, talk back at Him or do anything that has the slightest hint of rebellion. Doing so would be elevating ourselves to His level and setting ourselves up for destruction. Our attitude and posture before such a mighty and powerful God is humility and submission. God exalts Himself rightfully in many of the chapters of Isaiah and talks about how there is no One like Him, that nobody can do what He does or that no one can change what He has said (Isaiah 45:21, 46:5). He also talks about how He is the only one able to tell the future from the beginning of a thing (Isaiah 46:10). He prides Himself at being the only One who knows ancient things since he’s been there from the beginning. He is powerful and that is the bottom line.
As believers, we should strive to live in a manner worthy of the Lord. Truth be told, our desire is to please Him and we do not want to do anything that will not be glorifying to Him but we often do. The question then is how can we make sure we do not set ourselves above the Lord? How can we ensure we do not rebel against Him? I believe we need to first pay attention to what the Lord says in His words concerning the sins or characters that He hates, particularly looking at the context these sins or sinful attitudes are displayed and then drawing a parallel to our current context to see how or where we are doing the same. For example, when you take the sin of idolatry in the bible, it comes up many times and in the Old Testament it was often tied to false gods, gods made by the hands of human, gods made with material used for consumption or construction like wood that was used for firewood. Also, the Lord was particularly angered with false gods because they were stealing His glory, these idols were gods who had ears but could not hear, eyes but could not see, hands but could not save, etc., it was such an insult for the Saviour of Israel to be put down to such a low level when He was more powerful than that. Moreover, the honour and glory that was due Him was now given to immovable creatures who could do nothing. In your life today, what are some of the things you elevate above the God who made it possible? When you wake up, go to work, put food on the table, do you instantly take these for granted or do you recognize that it is not the work of your hands that have made it possible but that it is the Lord of Lords that has done this? Or think of your greatest accomplishment, who gets the glory when all is said and done? Yesterday, I attended my sister’s graduation and it was a wonderful ceremony. Graduates were being hailed for the hard work they have done, the sacrifices and the effort they made, they were repeatedly told they deserved it and that is true but above such an accomplishment the real question behind is who made it possible? Was it their own effort? Was it their discipline? The truth is that God made it possible. He is the One who provides and gives the necessary resources to accomplish what He gives you the desire to accomplish. It is never us; it is always Him so the glory must be His.
Additionally, we must be continually checking our motives against the word of God, we must ensure in our daily actions including the petty and small actions that we do not question the Lord because that is a practice that puts you at enmity with Him. Also, that is the practice Satan wants the children of God to keep on doing. It started in the Garden of Eden, and it is still going on today. So, let us be aware to not question God in our daily habits. Again, this must be checked through the lenses of the Scriptures. A good example of how we do that is by looking at what the apostle Paul said in Corinthians “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). This means, our thoughts must be changed first before our actions can follow. To ensure our daily actions are not questioning God, His character or the things He does, we have to kill thoughts that are in contradiction to what He says in His word, kill every thought that does not elevate Christ as Lord and that will flow in what we do. No wonder we cannot live a careless life, our life must constantly be subject to the supremacy of God.
May the Lord help us to meditate on Him, His power, His excellencies, His might so that we may arrive at a proper view of who we truly are and act accordingly. Amen.
A Word Aptly Spoken 