Isaiah 46 Devotional

Carried Rather Than Carrying

“Even to your old age, I will be the same, and I will bear you up when you turn gray. I have made you, and I will carry you; I will sustain you and deliver you.”Isaiah 46:4 (BSB)

Babylon's great gods, Bel and Nebo, have a problem: they cannot walk. In this chapter they are loaded onto weary animals and hauled away, unable to save even themselves from captivity (46:1-2). Their worshipers spend gold to make them and then lift them onto their shoulders, set them in place, and cry out to them for help that never comes (46:6-7).

Against that picture, God speaks to his people. He has carried them since birth, and he will keep carrying them into old age, when their hair turns gray. He made them, and he will bear them up and rescue them (46:3-4). Idols are burdens their worshipers must carry. The LORD carries his worshipers. He also declares the end from the beginning, and his purpose will stand (46:9-10). He even offers his salvation to people he calls stubborn and far from righteousness (46:12-13). Whatever season of life you are in, from your first years to your last, you are not carrying God. He is carrying you.

To think about: What have you been carrying as if it all depended on you, and what would it look like to let God carry you instead?