Who can Thwart Him?
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Pastor Steve Ellison
In the last part of Isaiah 14, God is asking rhetorical questions with an expected answer. He is giving us pause to stop and meditate on His might, His authority, His ability, His Sovereignty, etc. He also wants us to consider His freedom. No one else is totally free. We speak of freedom and many of us think we have freedom, but we do not. Only God has true freedom. Only God can act independently with no possibility of being thwarted, with no worry of any other person or thing or force interfering with His intention. No human being has that.
Many skeptics are guilty of creating a god in their own image. They proclaim that they just cannot believe in a god who does or allows ________. They fill in the blank with whatever does not suit them. That is a terribly ludicrous and illogical argument. A logical person would make a sincere attempt to determine if a particular being is God or not. If this logical person is convinced that this being is indeed God, then he would believe in and honor that being as God. Arguing that a particular being cannot be God based on my likes and dislikes makes no sense whatsoever. This being is either God or he is not. My preferences have nothing whatsoever to do with answering the question.
Throughout the Bible, God makes many claims about His sovereignty over every aspect of the created world. Isaiah 14 is one such passage. God had dealt with His chosen people with love and compassion and yet they refuse to return that love. God had one more effort to make in turning His people back to Him. He would use the nations of Assyria and Babylon to chastise and discipline His people. They would thrash His people almost to the point of extinction. Then, and only then, would a remnant of His people return to Him. When that was accomplished, God would punish Assyria and Babylon for their sins. Isaiah 14:24-27 declares, The Lord Almighty has sworn, “Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will stand. I will crush the Assyrian in my land; on my mountains I will trample him down. His yoke will be taken from my people, and his burden removed from their shoulders. This is the plan determined for the whole world; this is the hand stretched out over all nations. For the Lord Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back? (NIV)
God does not want you to give Him your answer to that question. He wants you to agree with His answer. His answer is no one, no thing, no force, no idea can thwart Him. Be assured there is no one who can thwart the purpose of God. There is no one who can turn back His hand after He has stretched it out to do whatever He intends. No matter what you, or I, or anyone else thinks, says, or schemes, God will not be thwarted. No act of nature, no tragedy, no disaster, nothing can even slightly alter His purpose. That is a portion of what makes Him God. To argue that you will not believe in, worship or obey God because you do not agree with His actions or methods is nothing less than foolish, not to mention dangerous to your eternal health. Trying to create God in your image is idolatry. I am sure that you do not want a god created in my image and I do not want one created in yours. Examine the God of the Bible, be still and know that He is God. Rejoice in that.