The Only God

For thus says the LORD,

who created the heavens

(he is God!),

who formed the earth and made it

(he established it;

he did not create it a chaos,

he formed it to be inhabited!):

I am the LORD, and there is no other.

I did not speak in secret,

in a land of darkness;

I did not say to the offspring of Jacob,

“Seek me in chaos.”

I the LORD speak the truth,

I declare what is right.

Assemble yourselves and come together,

draw near, you survivors of the nations!

They have no knowledge—

those who carry about their wooden idols,

and keep on praying to a god

that cannot save.

Declare and present your case;

let them take counsel together!

Who told this long ago?

Who declared it of old?

Was it not I, the LORD?

There is no other god besides me,

a righteous God and a Savior;

there is no one besides me. (Isaiah 45:18-21)

God is not living in the dark. He is not invisible. He is not unorganized. He is not hard to find. His words are not so complex and difficult that no one can understand them. There are no secret mysteries, quests, maps, or complicated ideas that need to be discovered in order to get God’s love or blessing. There is no secret handshake or magical ritual.

God stands in the open, easily accessible, pouring out his blessings upon all who come. But oddly, people run away from him. They seek him in dark places, they pray to everything else but him, worshipping inanimate objects, muttering at the rocks and sticks of wood and behaving like complete idiots, all the while imagining themselves to be deep, spiritual, and holy. They think that finding God and knowing God intimately has to be deserved: that it is granted only to those who strive hardest, or who make the most pilgrimages.

But there is only one God. And he alone can save. That means, no one else can rescue you: not your neighbor, not a special ritual, and not yourself. Only the obvious God.

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