Isaiah

Isaiah 46: God carries and delivers His people

Begin in prayer

Before we see idols loaded onto weary animals, let us turn to the God who carries His people. Ask Him to free our family from stubborn unbelief and teach us to rest in the Savior’s faithful care.

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

Psalm 91:1

Father in heaven, please open our eyes as we read Your Word. Help us see Your faithful strength and the weakness of false gods. Help us trust Jesus through every season of life. Make us more like Jesus. And please bless our family as we worship You together. In Jesus' name, Amen.

See where we're going

Bel and Nebo bow down as their idols become heavy loads upon animals. The helpless images go into captivity, and they deliver no one who carries them. God calls the remnant of Israel to remember that He has carried them from birth and will still carry them in old age. People pay a craftsman to make a god, then carry it to a place where it cannot move or answer cries for help. The LORD commands transgressors to remember that He alone is God and declares the end from the beginning. He calls a man from a distant country like a ravenous bird and will accomplish the purpose He has announced. He summons stubborn hearts far from righteousness to listen because His righteousness and salvation are drawing near to Zion.

As you read Isaiah 46, look for the answers:

Reflect together

Key truth

God carries His people through life and accomplishes His saving purpose while idols fail.

Bel and Nebo were gods of Babylon, and their images are loaded onto weary animals and carried into captivity (verses 1 and 2). God’s care moves in the other direction, bearing the people He has made from their earliest days to gray hair. Age does not exhaust His strength or end His commitment. Remembering God’s past deeds answers the temptation to treat Him as equal to these helpless objects. He knows what is coming and brings about the purpose He declares. The bird from the east pictures the ruler He summons from far away to carry out His counsel. His final call confronts stubborn people with salvation that comes by His righteousness and will not wait.

How does Isaiah 46 show us that God carries His people through life and accomplishes His saving purpose while idols fail?

God’s care lasts through His people’s lives.

He carried Israel before they could carry themselves. His promise extends to old age and gray hair. The One who made them will continue to bear and deliver them.

Costly idols cannot give saving help.

Their worshippers must carry them and set them in place. The images cannot move toward anyone in trouble. A cry for help receives no answer from the object that human hands have made.

God brings the salvation He has planned.

He calls stubborn people to listen and remember His deeds. His counsel stands because He does what pleases Him. The man summoned from afar will serve His purpose, and His promised salvation will not wait.

Memorise

Even to old age I am he, and even to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear. Yes, I will carry, and will deliver.

Isaiah 46:4

Looking to Jesus in my life

Ask yourself in your heart, what am I leaning on, and will I trust Jesus to carry me?

The idols must be carried away, while God promises His people, “Yes, I will carry, and will deliver.” Their stubborn hearts cannot create the righteousness He brings near. Salvation rests on the purpose He will accomplish.

God’s saving purpose leads to Jesus Christ. He took His people’s guilt on Himself and died in their place to deliver them. The Father raised Him, and His sacrifice needs nothing added to secure forgiveness for everyone who believes in Him.

Turn from your stubborn sin and trust Jesus. Come to the living Savior with the weakness your false hopes cannot relieve. All who believe may rely on His faithful care through changing years. The One who has finished their salvation will not grow too weak to keep them.

Parent's note

Tell your children that God’s lifelong care belongs to His people and rests on His faithful purpose. Please do not tell them they are saved just because they grew up in a Christian home. Call each child to turn from sin and trust Jesus, and pray that God would give them a new heart.

Pray together

Now please close your time together in prayer. Thank God that His strength does not fail as His people grow weak, and bring the heart question to Him. Every child can pray, so let each one say a short prayer if they want to.

But the very hairs of your head are all counted. Therefore don’t be afraid. You are of more value than many sparrows.

Luke 12:7

Faithful God, thank You for the saving purpose You have accomplished through Jesus. Please help us trust Him for forgiveness. Turn us from the false helps that only add to our burdens. Teach our family to depend on Your care as our years and needs change. Amen.