There Is No Other

"For this is what the LORD says-- he who created the heavens, he is God; he who fashioned and made the earth, he founded it; he did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited-- he says: "I am the LORD, and there is no other.  I have not spoken in secret, from somewhere in a land of darkness; I have not said to Jacob's descendants, 'Seek me in vain.' I, the LORD, speak the truth; I declare what is right." Isaiah 45:18-19 (NIV)

I am reminded again this morning through reading of Isaiah 45-46 that He is God and there is no other.  We may be tempted to make our own truth (because it's convenient or we don't fancy the alternative); to turn to science (because we can see it and touch it); to reason (because our minds can understand it); or to experience (because we can feel it), but there's no getting around the reality of the God of the Bible.  It doesn't fully come as a surprise to me that all He simply requires is faith to receive His redemption.  Faith is the only issue when it comes to the big questions of life.  How we respond to God alters everything else.

I'm glad that God does not hide Himself, use us as an experiment, or create us with a dead-end purpose.  'God has made it plain to [us].  For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that [we] are without excuse.  For although [many of us] knew God, [we] neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but [our] thinking became futile and [our] foolish hearts were darkened." (1)

I am obligated ... to [tell you], both to the wise and the foolish. I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes ... For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith. (2)

I hope that as you read this and that as I write this, we turn our hearts and minds more fully to God.  That we recognize His greatness as our Creator and His goodness as our Savior.  Life is not just best lived, but only lived in this reality.  Everything else is simply a counterfeit life hiding in the shadows of the deceitfulness of our sin, the foolishness of our limited wisdom, and the darkness of evil.

(1) Romans 1:19b-22 (NIV); (2) Romans 1:14, 16-17a (NIV)