"For the Lord Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?" (Isaiah 14:27)
This verse comes near the end of a chapter in which judgment against Babylon and Assyria is prophesied. The question is a rhetorical one. After all, God is all-powerful. Can anyone stop Him from doing what He wants to do? Absolutely not. Nonetheless, as human beings, our pride often gets in the way of our reason, and we tend to think of ourselves as more than we really are. I don't think it's any coincidence that the majority of the deities worshipped throughout history are, for all practical purposes, just superpowered men and women. Since we are the greatest creatures that we can see, it only makes sense that we assume that the universe is run by stronger and more ancient versions of ourselves. Nonetheless, this mentality will always put us at odds with God. After all, if we make ourselves gods, then what does that make Him? Ultimately, there can only be one supreme power in the universe, and God has made it clear that that is Him and Him alone.
"I am the Lord, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God..." (Isaiah 45:5a)
Since He is the only God in the universe, we are all accountable to Him. Not even the most powerful nations can evade His judgment. Babylon once ruled the known world, just like Assyria had before it. Both empires now lie in ruins in modern-day Iraq. If they couldn't escape God's wrath, what makes us think we can? Before we let our hubris get the better of us, we need to meditate on the questions asked in Isaiah 14:27, so that we don't make the same mistake that those two nations did and think that we are invincible when we are clearly not.
