Isaiah 44:24-26

Foiled Again

Isaiah 44:24-26
"This is what the LORD says— your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb: I am the LORD, who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself, who foils the signs of false prophets and makes fools of diviners, who overthrows the learning of the wise and turns it into nonsense, who carries out the words of his servants and fulfills the predictions of his messengers, who says of Jerusalem, ‘It shall be inhabited,’ of the towns of Judah, ‘They shall be built,’ and of their ruins, ‘I will restore them,’"

Comment

God is actively involved in the world. He not only defends the truth and affirms his people, but also he foils and frustrates the ideas and plans of the wicked.

Psalms 146:9 The LORD watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.
Proverbs 22:12 The eyes of the LORD keep watch over knowledge, but he frustrates the words of the unfaithful.
Ezekiel 24:12 It has frustrated all efforts; its heavy deposit has not been removed, not even by fire.
1 Corinthians 1:19 For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate." {Isaiah 29:14}

Countless fools there are in this generation who reckon themselves wise but whose ideas and plans will be overthrown. The fact that God is actively involved gives us confidence and peace. We can endure the hostility facing us because God works on our behalf. The voice of the wicked are many. But greater is he who is in us than he who is in the world.

But beware of being too presumptuous as to what God will do. Some particularly in the word-faith movement will take a phrase like "who carries out the words of his servants" and presume that God is a divine vending machine doing whatever they say according to whatever whim enters their heart. But when it says "servants" it means "servants". His servants are, for example, his prophets who spoke the Word of which we now call the Bible. Indeed there are false prophets even in the Christian community who presume to speak on God's behalf. "Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world." 1John 4:1 So also throughout the history of Israel there were false prophets.

The Berean Christian Bible Study Resources