“Yet I am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no god but me: for there is no Savior beside me” (Hosea 13:4).

This verse in Hosea sounds much like the first of the Ten Commandments: “I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:2,3).

God doesn’t command us to have no other gods before Him because He is afraid of competition, but because it is the truth when He says, “beside me there is no Savior” (Isaiah 43:11). Man may invent other gods, but note their true worth: “In the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and save us. But where are thy gods that thou hast made thee? let them arise, if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble” (Jeremiah 2:27,28).

Man runs to his “gods” in a time of trouble—money may provide temporary happiness, drugs may ease the pain, alcohol may cause temporary forgetfulness—but the “whole creation groaneth and travaileth” under sin’s curse, and the creature has been made “subject to vanity” (Romans 8:20,22). The only true help for us or our world is the Savior.

David knew this: “Wherefore thou art great, O LORD God: for there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee” (II Samuel 7:22).

Hannah knew it: “My heart rejoiceth in the LORD, mine horn is exalted in the LORD: my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in thy salvation. There is none holy as the LORD: for there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God” (I Samuel 2:1,2).

And “happy” are we (Psalm 144:15) when we know it! “Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee” (Psalm 73:25). CJH