I am a coffee mug snob. I believe that coffee mugs should be a certain height and shape. They need to be tall and slender, but large enough to hold at least 12 oz. of dark roast. The handle should be comfortable, and the mug should remind you of someone or someplace wonderful. My favorite coffee mug was a perfectly shaped thing of beauty that my mother-in-law brought back from England for me many years ago. It was from Herrods and it showed the famous facade of the store with a stylish car pulled up to the front. Inside the lip of the mug was a replica British license plate with the Harrod’s name. Sadly, a house guest inadvertently broke it while helpfully doing the dishes. A long search on the Harrods website and eBay did not turn up anything like it, as it was decades old and no longer made.

I thought about this mug today as I read verse 6b in today’s passage: “I am the first, and I am the last, and besides me there are no other gods.” This was a profound statement by God at a time when Isreal had fallen into worshipping handmade idols of the surrounding nations. The nation had been carried into exile in Babylon, and the people had strayed far from God.

This passage reminds us that God is self-existing and therefore cannot be made and cannot be broken. Jesus later came along and proclaimed himself to be the first and last, the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. (See Revelation 1:17 and 22:13.) 

Isaiah 44 (Common English Bible)

The Lord, Israel’s king and redeemer,
    the Lord of heavenly forces, says:
I am the first, and I am the last,
    and besides me there are no gods.
⁷ Who is like me?
    Let them speak up, explain it, and lay it out for me.
Who announced long ago what is to be?
    Let them tell us what is to come.
⁸ Don’t tremble; have no fear!
    Didn’t I proclaim it?
    Didn’t I inform you long ago?
You are my witnesses!
    Is there a God besides me?
    There is no other rock; I know of none.

The handcrafted gods that had enraptured the people were as useless as pieces of a broken coffee mug. God challenged these gods to speak up and explain themselves and then schools the idol worshippers over which “god” can actually forecast what is to come. Only the Lord of heavenly forces, Israel’s king and redeemer, has that kind of power.

But lest we be too critical about the Israelites, the truth is that we’re pretty good at making our own handmade idols, aren’t we? Celebrity culture, greed, popularity, obsession with our phones, gossip, social media that hurls hate speech across the internet, fancy cars, high mortgages … we are guilty of bowing down to many things as well. Isaiah’s writing reminds us that there are no other gods and that redemption can only come from the one true God. God is our one of a kind, end-all-be-all Deity who encompasses all time and existence. We are witnesses to that.

Verse 8 reassures us that God is in control and has plans for us. God is our one true Rock, and no idols we make can compare to the greatness of our God.

Are you spending too much time kneeling before a false idol? Just smash that thing and move on.

The Only Rock by Kathy Schumacher