The teacher leaned over the little girl who was happily and determinedly drawing and coloring a portrait in free time.  The teacher, interested because of her tenaciousness, asked her who she was drawing.  The little girl looked up from her crayons strewn all around her paper and proudly said, “I’m drawing God!”  The teacher said, “Nobody knows what God looks like.”  The little girl answered confidently, “They will now!”

The teacher was right but so was the little girl. We see God’s power, majesty, love, mercy, and grace, to name a few of His characteristics, displayed all around us, in people we meet, in situations beyond our solving, in waves of uncontrollable emotions, it bad turning out for good somehow with our help!  We see God in everything—if we look.  How we picture God is reflected in our behavior. 

How do you picture God?  This would be a good time to pause, reflect, think, and praise God. Isaiah’s message from God to His people leaps off the page for me this morning…“So to whom will you compare me, the Incomparable?  Can you picture me without reducing me?”  Whoa—did you get that?  Can we picture God without reducing Him, putting Him in a box to be pulled out in a pinch, limiting Him, and consistently comparing Him to our current idols of thought and materialism?  Are we as rebellious in thought as those to whom Isaiah is speaking?  Seriously…

Isaiah 46, The Message

This Is Serious Business, Rebels

^1-2 The god Bel falls down, god Nebo slumps.
    The no-god hunks of wood are loaded on mules
And have to be hauled off,
    wearing out the poor mules—
Dead weight, burdens who can’t bear burdens,
    hauled off to captivity.

^3-4 “Listen to me, family of Jacob,
    everyone that’s left of the family of Israel.
I’ve been carrying you on my back
    from the day you were born,
And I’ll keep on carrying you when you’re old.
    I’ll be there, bearing you when you’re old and gray.
I’ve done it and will keep on doing it,
    carrying you on my back, saving you.

^5-7 “So to whom will you compare me, the Incomparable?
    Can you picture me without reducing me?
People with a lot of money
    hire craftsmen to make them gods.
The artisan delivers the god,
    and they kneel and worship it!
They carry it around in holy parades,
    then take it home and put it on a shelf.
And there it sits, day in and day out,
    a dependable god, always right where you put it.
Say anything you want to it, it never talks back.
    Of course, it never does anything either!

^8-11 “Think about this. Wrap your minds around it.
    This is serious business, rebels. Take it to heart.
Remember your history,
    your long and rich history.
I am God, the only God you’ve had or ever will have—
    incomparable, irreplaceable—
From the very beginning
    telling you what the ending will be,
All along letting you in
    on what is going to happen,
Assuring you, ‘I’m in this for the long haul,
    I’ll do exactly what I set out to do,’

Calling that eagle, Cyrus, out of the east,
    from a far country the man I chose to help me.
I’ve said it, and I’ll most certainly do it.
    I’ve planned it, so it’s as good as done.

^12-13 “Now listen to me:
    You’re a hardheaded bunch and hard to help.
I’m ready to help you right now.
    Deliverance is not a long-range plan.
    Salvation isn’t on hold.
I’m putting salvation to work in Zion now,
    and glory in Israel.”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Warren Wiersbe, Commentator and Theologian, writes: “The false gods were disgraced. Bel was the Babylonian sun god, and Nebo was his son, the god of writing and learning. But both together could not stop Cyrus! As the Babylonians fled from the enemy, they had to carry their gods, but their gods went into captivity with the prisoners of war! God assures His people that He will carry them from the womb to the tomb.”

How comforting to know that our God cares for us before we are born (See Psalm 139), when we get old, and each moment in between!

“I’m ready to help you right now.  Deliverance is not a long-range plan. Salvation isn’t on hold. I’m putting salvation to work in Zion now, and glory in Israel.” –God

Believe in Jesus, repent of our sins and be saved forever.  God is with us always.  There is NO ONE like our God.  NO.  ONE.

Lord,

Thank you for saving my soul and making me whole. Thank you for cleaning up my sin, turning my messes into your messages of love, mercy, and grace. Thank you for transforming my life to be more like you created me to be.  I know you’re not finished with me yet, but we are on our way—YOUR WAY!

In Jesus Name, Amen