Oh the patience of God in pursuing His people and seeking to draw them back to Himself. That’s the thought that emerges as I read Isaiah 44 and 45 this morning. In Isaiah 44 God reasons with those who have turned from Him to worship idols. He says . . .

“Think about it. I’m the God of creation . . . I’m the God who formed you!! Why would you turn to anyone or anything else — least of all to these idols you’re bent on worshiping? How blind are your eyes? How beyond understanding is your heart? That you would take a chunk of wood and from part of it form an object for you to worship and then use the other part to build a fire and warm and feed yourself? It’s the same piece of firewood!!! Something that you throw into the fire is not something that can redeem and save you! Give your head a shake!!”
                         (Isaiah 44:12-20 PLP – Pete’s Loose Paraphrase . . . very loose).

And so God calls out to His people . . .

I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you. (Isaiah 44:22 ESV)

Oh how it grieves our God when our hearts are turned away from Him and towards firewood. Whether, as in the case of Israel, it’s hearts set on actual chunks of wood fashioned for worship . . . or the “firewood” of the pursuit of pleasure and self-satisfaction as our god . . . or to following our will and ways instead of His. And so, a grieved God patiently pleads with His people, “Return to Me!”

And then God, through the prophet, declares what all firewood followers need to come to realize . . .

I am the LORD, and there is no other, besides Me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me, that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides Me; I am the LORD, and there is no other.   (Isaiah 45:5-6 ESV)

Six times in this one chapter the thought is repeated, “There is no other!” You kind of get the impression that this is big deal to our God — that He thinks it pretty important that we get the fact that it is about Him and Him alone. That in coming to grips with His “no other-ness” firewood will be seen for what it really is.

Isn’t that the root cause of hearts that turn away from Him . . . some kind of belief that there is another? Maybe we’re not thinking another deity to worship . . . but another, less demanding way . . . another standard that suits us better . . . another call to follow Him which isn’t so radical. . . another way to pursue Him and know Him apart from His word . . . another spiritual compass other than the Holy Spirit He has placed within us. And when we do this aren’t we really just fashioning a God after our own liking . . . kind of like thinking that a piece of firewood can be formed into something of our making and suitable for worship? How stupid is that?

Oh how we need to return to the exclusiveness of God and quit trying to “re-form” Him into something that suits us. Instead, recognizing His awesome “no other-ness,” we need to bow to Him in submission and worship and ask Him to “reform” us.

You got to think that if we spent more time on meditating on the awesome God of creation . . . that if we would reflect more on the One who formed us and knows us intimately . . . that if we really believed that He is God and God alone and the only source of salvation and the only reliable refuge and the only One worthy of our lives and the only One we will stand before someday . . . that we’d be less likely to turn our hearts toward chunks of firewood.

Who needs firewood?