God Chooses The How

Isaiah 45:8-13

8 Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the
skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open,
and let them bring forth salvation, and let
righteousness spring up together; I the Lord have
created it.
9 Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the
potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth.
Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What
makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?
10 Woe unto him that saith unto his father, What
begettest thou? or to the woman, What hast thou
brought forth?
11 Thus saith the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and
his Maker, Ask me of things to come concerning my
sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye
me.
12 I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I,
even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and
all their host have I commanded.
13 I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will
direct all his ways: he shall build my city, and he
shall let go my captives, not for price nor reward,
saith the Lord of hosts.

Cyrus the Great reigned over Persia from 539 to 530 BC. Though he wasn't one of God's people, he's remembered in history as the one who allowed - even assisted - the Jews to return to Israel after seventy years in captivity. Isaiah's prophecies regarding Cyrus were astonishing because they were written about 150 years before he was even born. Yet God called him by name!

Isaiah 45:8-13 was addressed to the Jewish captives who may have chafed at the idea of God using a pagan ruler to deliver them. When God asked, "Does the clay talk back to the potter: 'What are you doing?'" He was reminding Israel that He made them, that He was with them, and that He alone could choose the means He'd use for their deliverance.

God's message in Isaiah 45 still applies to His people today. We are sometimes like Israel in Isaiah's day in that we love the idea of God doing great works of healing, cleansing, and changing our lives, but we'd prefer to reserve the right to tell Him how we want those things done. As God's adopted children, we have received the right to ask anything in Jesus' name, and if it is God's will He will do it. As clay in our Maker's hands, we do well to let Him accomplish what we ask in the way He chooses to do it...and when He chooses to do it.

Romans 8:28