What Happens When We Turn to God
Isaiah 45:20-25 (ESV)
20 “Assemble yourselves and come;
draw near together,
you survivors of the nations!
They have no knowledge
who carry about their wooden idols,
and keep on praying to a god
that cannot save.
21 Declare and present your case;
let them take counsel together!
Who told this long ago?
Who declared it of old?
Was it not I, the LORD?
And there is no other god besides me,
a righteous God and a Savior;
there is none besides me.
22 “Turn to me and be saved,
all the ends of the earth!
For I am God, and there is no other.
23 By myself I have sworn;
from my mouth has gone out in righteousness
a word that shall not return:
‘To me every knee shall bow,
every tongue shall swear allegiance.’
24 “Only in the LORD, it shall be said of me,
are righteousness and strength;
to him shall come and be ashamed
all who were incensed against him.
25 In the LORD all the offspring of Israel
shall be justified and shall glory.”
Digging into God’s Word
It was thirty years ago. I was driving home from my summer job late at night on country roads. Kenny Rogers was on the radio. Suddenly I hit a patch of road where they had laid several inches of new gravel. I lost control. I didn’t know it, but my car spun 180 degrees and landed in a ditch. I discovered it had landed upside down when I unlatched my seat belt and hit the roof with a thud. The doors wouldn’t open because the ditch was too narrow, so I crawled out of the hatchback.
I needed to find a phone to call my parents.
I started walking in one direction. Things didn’t seem right, so I turned around. I headed in the other direction and again felt confused. Soon I had turned so many times I didn’t know in which direction I was walking. Barking dogs at farmhouses quickened my steps. I finally found my way to a quiet house with a nice older woman who let me use her phone. I gave my dad the wrong directions to her house because my car had spun and then I had turned around so many times.
Isn’t that how it is with life sometimes? We turn one way, then the other, then the other, and pretty soon we don’t know how we ended up where we are.
In Isaiah’s day, the Israelites turned to God, then away to idols, then back to God, then away. In verse 22, God calls to them, and He gives them a promise:
22 “Turn to me and be saved,
all the ends of the earth!
For I am God, and there is no other.”
What happens when we turn to God? We are saved!
Who is this promise for? Everyone: “all the ends of the earth”! And when we turn to Him and are saved, we find righteousness and strength in Him:
24 “Only in the LORD, it shall be said of me,
are righteousness and strength.”
Have you taken one too many turns in your life away from God? The errors of the Israelites were many, and yet God called to them, and He calls to us: “Turn to me and be saved.”
Digging Deeper
As you are able, spend time with God, reflecting on these questions or journaling your thoughts.
- What turns in your life do you regret making? Where do you find yourself today along life’s path? If anything needs confessing, tell it to God. He already knows, but the process is healing. He is faithful and will forgive! You might appreciate this devotion on confession.
- Even if you are walking with Jesus, there are probably things you would like to be saved from. Take time to bring them to the Lord. Talk with Him and ask for help.
- Thank goodness, God gives us the biggest gift of all: being saved not just from our temporary troubles here on this earth, but also saved for all eternity with everlasting life in heaven. If you trust Jesus as your Savior and believe He has paid the price for your sins in full, treasure the moment. Express your faith to God in prayer.
Time and again in Isaiah 44 and 45, God said, “I am the LORD, and there is no other.” From Matthew Henry’s commentary:
None besides is able to help; he is the Saviour, who can save without the assistance of any, but without whom none can save.
Extra Info!
We have come to the end of chapter 45 of Isaiah, and you are probably wondering what the last devotion in the series will cover. In devotion 10, we will look back at the key verses in Isaiah 44 and 45 and perhaps find new nuggets on which to reflect. You can find all of the devotions in the series at this link.
