What’s the point?

Pete Phillips June 05, 2025 4 0

Playlists

Add to Favourites

Save for later

Listen to this daily worship

Isaiah 45: 18-25 (NIVUK)

18 For this is what the Lord says –
he who created the heavens,
    he is God;
he who fashioned and made the earth,
    he founded it;
he did not create it to be empty,
    but formed it to be inhabited –
he says:
‘I am the Lord,
    and there is no other.
19 I have not spoken in secret,
    from somewhere in a land of darkness;
I have not said to Jacob’s descendants,
    “Seek me in vain.”
I, the Lord, speak the truth;
    I declare what is right.

20 ‘Gather together and come;
    assemble, you fugitives from the nations.
Ignorant are those who carry about idols of wood,
    who pray to gods that cannot save.
21 Declare what is to be, present it –
    let them take counsel together.
Who foretold this long ago,
    who declared it from the distant past?
Was it not I, the Lord?
    And there is no God apart from me,
a righteous God and a Saviour;
    there is none but me.

22 ‘Turn to me and be saved,
    all you ends of the earth;
    for I am God, and there is no other.
23 By myself I have sworn,
    my mouth has uttered in all integrity
    a word that will not be revoked:
before me every knee will bow;
    by me every tongue will swear.
24 They will say of me, “In the Lord alone
    are deliverance and strength.”’
All who have raged against him
    will come to him and be put to shame.
25 But all the descendants of Israel
    will find deliverance in the Lord
    and will make their boast in him.

Today’s reading goes back into Isaiah’s prophecy which we noted yesterday warned God’s people not to trust too much in their own creations. We are co-creators. But as a lecturer once pointed out to me, we need to be careful not to think we create like God. God’s creation is so much more – a creation from nothing, a universe of creativity, perhaps even a multiverse, perhaps even a quantum plurality of creation. And God created the universe to be inhabited, to be filled with light, to be filled with the presence of the divine, both a God and a Saviour. A God who offers salvation to those who turn to him. A God who gives us life.

Humanity has done well to become co-creators with God. We can do marvellous things. Whether or not we are unique on the planet, or in the universe, is yet to be proven. But we are remarkable beings with self-awareness, perception, criticality, humility, and compassion. Psalm 8 talks of humanity created only a little lower than his angels, crowned with glory and honour – words often reserved for God’s own nature. Such wonderful creations. But still creations. Made to be saved by a God who loves us so much. Made to be reliant on the God of all creation. Made to worship him, never to worship that which we make, which we create, which we form. For as Isaiah says in our reading today, there is no other God except for me. We are God’s creation. We are called to serve him.   

Today our prayer is an extract from St Francis’ Canticle of Creation:

“O Most High, all-powerful, good Lord God,
to you belong praise, glory,
honour and all blessing…

…Be praised, my Lord,
for Sister Earth, our Mother,
who nourishes us and sustains us,
bringing forth
fruits and vegetables of many kinds
and flowers of many colours.
Be praised, my Lord,
for those who forgive for love of you;
and for those
who bear sickness and weakness
in peace and patience
- you will grant them a crown.”