Isaiah 44:6-8 (NRSV)
Read Isaiah 44:6-8 on biblegateway.com
Verse 6Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god. Verse 7Who is like me? Let them proclaim it, let them declare and set it forth before me. Who has announced from of old the things to come? Let them tell us what is yet to be. Verse 8Do not fear, or be afraid; have I not told you from of old and declared it? You are my witnesses! Is there any god besides me? There is no other rock; I know not one.
Devotion
My daughter loves to look at photo albums. She’ll sit and pore over old pictures for hours. But more than the photos, she loves the stories the pictures evoke; a long-past vacation, time with far-away family, her infancy and toddlerhood. “It’s like the story of me,” she told me once. “It helps me remember stuff I forgot.”
Again and again the Bible repeats the story of God, of who God is and what God does. Why? Because we forget, and we need to remember. The exiles in Babylon, surrounded by Babylonian gods, needed someone to tell them that story. They needed someone to make a case for God, to call them to renewed faithfulness. And so Isaiah opens up the photo album and retells the old, old story they need to hear.
We live in a kind of exile of our own these days. There are more gods clamoring for attention than ever. Fewer and fewer people know the basics of the Bible or can articulate what they believe. Who or what will call us to renewed faithfulness?
Prayer
Steadfast God, my rock, let me be your witness today. Use my words, my hands, my heart, my ears to show the world what kind of God you are. Amen.