I had an algebra teacher in high school who chided our class for not arriving prepared. I remember him saying in his Arkansas drawl, “I cain’t hep you if you don’t do your homework.”

A good life lesson. No one learns math without study, and no one goes deeper into the ways of the Lord without effort. Only personal time in the Scripture, just you and the Holy Spirit, brings deeper understanding and enjoyment of the Lord.

In a few paragraphs of text, Isaiah wrote a variation of one phrase from God’s mouth multiple times—I am the Lord, and there is no other (Isaiah 45;14, 18, 21, 22; 46:9).

No other god exists in all the world. Unless any major religion or minor sect leads one to the Lord in some roundabout way, they end in frustration. I’ve heard the threadbare phrase there are many paths to the top of the mountain, used again and again to give credence to religious inclinations. But amateur theologians mouthing such a shibboleth didn’t do their homework.

Many paths may get you to the base of the mountain. All religions carry some truth about the human condition and God who created the world. But only one path takes you to the top. The Lord, from Moses to Isaiah through Jesus and Paul, makes that quite clear.

It’s all spelled out in the text. Crack it open and do your homework. Best of all? Once you get started you’ll enjoy it way more than algebra.

Isaiah 45 & 46 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2023

Photo by Antony Hyson S