Browse Bible Study Resources

Daily Devotions

Isaiah

Isaiah 
Day 
Day 351

"Woe to him who strives with his Maker"

Text: Isaiah 45:9

TWO WORDS OF REBUKE

Israel had not only abandoned the LORD, it had developed a spirit of arrogance and rudeness. The mere human being challenges his Maker in ludicrous ways.

“Woe to him who strives with his Maker!
Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth!
Shall the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’
Or shall your handiwork say, ‘He has no hands’?
Woe to him who says to his father, ‘What are you begetting?’
Or to the woman, ‘What have you brought forth?'”
Isaiah 45:9-10

1. God as the Creator.

a) This was a major theme in Isaiah 45.

b) Israel conveniently rejected this obvious truth that God is the Creator.

2. The Imagery of God as the Maker.

a) A special way to describe God as the Maker was to compare Him to a Potter.

b) If God is the Potter, the human being is just Clay.

3. The Potter and the Clay.

a) Can the Clay question the Potter as to what He is making?

b) Can the handiwork say of the Potter ‘He has no hands’?

4. The handiwork can become a broken vessel.

a) A potsherd is essentially a broken piece of clay.

b) Many lives have become potsherds.

c) Yet, they are still quarrelling with each other.

5. A rude and arrogant child.

a) One expects a child to be grateful to his parents.

i) There should be regard.

ii) There should be love.

b) The baby in the womb becomes petulant and nasty.

i) He asks what his father is begetting.

ii) He demands to know what his mother has brought forth.

6. Description of arrogant Israel.

a) It had become increasingly arrogant.

b) It exhibited totally unacceptable behaviour.