DEMOTING GOD

October 22 

Beware lest Hezekiah mislead you, saying, “Yahweh will deliver us.” Has any one of the gods of the nations delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? Isaiah 36:18

It is natural for an unbeliever to think that Yahweh is no different from any other god. Thus, we must not be surprised when an unbeliever does or says something that demotes God from His true position. As believers we know that there is only one God (1 Cor. 8:4). All of the so-called gods other people worship, are simply figments of imagination or an evil spirit trying to manifest as a god. As such, false gods have no power. Thus, it is not surprising that the king of Assyria was able to defeat the other nations who were worshiping false gods. But for Rabshakeh to demote Yahweh, by comparing Him to those false gods, he was making a serious error.  

But how often can we do the same thing? No, we don’t compare Yahweh to other gods, but sometimes in our minds we demote God, making Him just like us. We think that He should do things the way we want them to be done. We doubt that He is really in control of certain situations. We worry that terrible things will happen to us or our loved ones. In these instances, and many more, we are in a sense demoting God. May God strengthen us to “Remember the former things long past, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, ‘My counsel will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure’” (Isaiah 46:9-10).  

Joshua Steiner