God had been wearied of Israel's inconsistencies through the years, as we can read in The Bible. He had called them His special people who would be light to the world and bring forth His Messiah. Before I finish that thought, I want to stress God is not incongruent in his emotions. He is not fickled and gets triggered by our actions. He does respond to sin with consequences and to righteousness with blessings. Those may not always look how we think consequences and blessings should, but He is consistent in those things as He chooses them. To say "God was wearied" by Israel's inconsistencies is to say, "He offered them a covenant, and they turned their back continually on Him." Isaiah puts it this way, "You (Israel) felt secure in your wickedness, you said 'No one sees me.'" Yet, in their understanding, "wisdom and your knowledge led you astray." This is what wearied God. In His consistent character, He allowed them to be led astray. He wanted them to choose Him, to live obediently.
While Israel was the LORD's chosen, many of them, almost the entire nation, would not choose the LORD in return. The very God, "who made you, who formed you from the womb and will help you...whom I have chosen," would reject Him repeatedly. He reminded them, "Who is like Me? Let him proclaim it." How did Israel as a whole choose to answer God? They decided to form idols and worship other nations' gods. Isaiah 44 addresses this issue, "all who fashion idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit." God responded, "all his (the craftsman) companions shall be put to shame." Isaiah 44 outlines the irony of casting idols by man's hands in verses 12-20. Here is some irony: as a craftsman builds an idol of wood, "half of it I burned in the fire; I also baked bread on its coals; I roasted meat and have eaten. And shall I make the rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?" Idolatry made them stupid as it does us. They offered themselves to gods who could not save, deliver, or care for those who worshiped them. God sees the delusion that Israel and we also fall into when we serve false gods that do not deliver. "He feeds on ashes; a deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, 'is there not a lie in my right hand?'"
As we read through the Bible, the grace that comes through the pages from God to all of mankind is pervasive and cannot be denied when reading without bias. God looked to redeem his people Israel repeatedly and did. When wearied, He offered mercy when they repented. In Isaiah 45:5-6, we read of His grace being showered on a disobedient people who refused to know God, "I equip you, though you do not know me, that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the LORD, and there is no other." He chose His fame over their disobedience, and they, in their disobedience, were blessed because of the character of God, not because they were obedient children. We should stop and give thanks to God for this. We also receive grace and mercy this way, often in our rebellion. He also rushes to forgive when we are repentant. That is the God of Scripture.
Though God does offer mercy and grace, and we receive His blessings because He chooses His character over our sin, Paul says, "shall we continue in sin, that grace may increase? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?" Romans 6:1-2. This is what Israel, in most cases, did not fully grasp. They built their idols without questioning the sensibility of what was crafted in their own image. We are no different. Yet there is a difference; we have their example, 1 Corinthians 10-16 outlines those examples. Paul tells his readers the examples of Israel to follow and not to follow; sadly, the latter is more prevalent.
Let's get back to how God was wearied of their constant idolatry. One of the profound declarations in Isaiah, stated repeatedly by God, "And there is no other god besides Me." That is still true today. Unfortunately, like Israel, we continue to mold and shape our idols in our image. Those idols are not made of wood or stone today. They are carved in catering to our emotions, success, finances, culture, self-esteem, government, and so much that our world commands we look to for hope, and these things that cannot save, draw our attention and allegiance.
As I wrote at the beginning, God wearied, eventually allowing Israel to have their god their way. When they sought rescue from the only true God, he returned them to their crafted gods and said, "let them stand forth and save you" Isaiah 47:13. Judges 10:14 puts it like this, "go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them save you when you are in trouble!" In the New Testament, Romans 1:28-32, Paul writes, "... just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God so God gave them over to a depraved mind so that they do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity." When God wearies, he does not lose patience as human beings do. He is not flippant. He is consistent. He allowed years, decades, and millennia to change a people who could not stand being wedded to Him. God is the definition of patience as part of His character.
There is a time when we continue to want to be the lord (master) of our existence, and we perpetually craft our gods that when we cry out to The True God in times of trouble, He may say, "go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them save you when you are in trouble!" That doesn't sound very pleasant when you read that out loud. It sounds cold and callous, The very opposite of the character of the God of Scripture, the one who declares, "And there is no other god besides Me." He is neither cold nor callous. The Bible says, "The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness." That promise should cause us to thoroughly repent, put away our idols, and respond as Jeremiah did in Lamentations 3:22-24 "The LORD is my portion... therefore I will hope in him."
Remember, God did not just put Israel off and tell them to immediately, "cry out to your idols for help." This was years in the making. God wanted them to see they did not want the carved images they handcrafted. He wanted them to recognize the foolishness of worshiping handcrafted idols. In our cases, worshiping the blessings, He bestowed instead of the One who gives the blessings.
Israel knew, experientially, only The True God could save. Sadly like Israel, we find ourselves taking God for granted. We cast His grace to the curb. We live carelessly in sin; we cry out to Him when God is needed, while not living obediently to His Lordship. That is not the relationship God seeks from those who call Him LORD. We are called to "the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ" 1 Peter 1:2.
If our idols become our safe place, why is it unacceptable for God to say, "go and cry out to the gods you have chosen?"
Why would that not be fair?
Wouldn't He be offering us what we have expected from the gods we have worshiped?
He would not be an evil or cruel God to give us what we want, even deserve. Doing differently, the opposite is consistent with Him. Not giving us what we deserve, and sending His Son while we were His enemies, is precisely the proof that "great is His faithfulness."
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