Isaiah 47 Devotional

Pride That Claims God's Place

“You were secure in your wickedness; you said, ‘No one sees me.’ Your wisdom and knowledge led you astray; you told yourself, ‘I am, and there is none besides me.’”Isaiah 47:10 (BSB)

Babylon, pictured as a pampered royal daughter, is ordered off her throne and into the dust to grind grain like a servant (47:1-2). God had handed his people over to her, but she showed them no mercy, even burdening the elderly (47:6). And she believed she would be queen forever (47:7).

Twice she uses words that belong to God alone, claiming that she exists and there is no one besides her (47:8, 47:10). In the chapters just before this, God has said this of himself again and again. Babylon has simply taken his line, sure that no one sees her (47:10). Her sorcerers and stargazers cannot hold back the disaster that falls on her in a single day (47:9-15). Revelation echoes her boast in describing another Babylon who calls herself a queen and says she will never grieve (Revelation 18:7). Pride is finally a claim to God's place. Real security belongs only to the one who truly has no equal, and he is the safe one to rest in.

To think about: Where might you be quietly assuming your security is permanent, and what would it look like to rest it on God instead?