“I am the first, and the last; and beside me there is no God...there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me...beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any.”
“Beside me,” not as in sitting next to or alongside, but as in, there is no alternative. Most certainly, there are other gods, as Paul tells us, “For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,) But to us there is but one God…” That is, “One true God.”
God, no doubt speaking facetiously, tells His people He is not aware of any other God than Himself. In the context He asks his people, in essence, have you ever met a God that can do what I can do? He certainly never met one that could stand in comparison to Him. The pagan god, Dagon, fell on his face in pieces, when in the presence of Jehovah God!
Why, O why, then would God’s elect seek refuge in a shanty when they have a ROCK to hide in? Why would they ask a beggar for help when their KING has offered them His? And why would we seek worldly wisdom when we have the ALL-KNOWING-ONE at our disposal?
True, God uses human means in His people’s lives to accomplish the above mentioned. But when trusted alone, apart from God, they become miniature gods who are impotent at best.
“I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.”
by an Old Disciple