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Dr. Charles Dyer, Provost and Dean of Education, serves as the Institute’s chief academic officer. Will you join us in asking the Lord to clearly guide him and his staff as they educate our students, training and equipping them to serve Christ in full-time Christian ministry?
TODAY IN THE WORDIf you’ve been feeling unlucky in life recently, numerous Web sites would like to help you! They offer lucky charms to give you success in love, at work, or even for playing the lottery—all for a fee, of course. One site recommends that you buy a lot of lucky charms to maximize your lucky power (and obviously, increase their profits). If you’re decked out with their bracelets and pendants, things will go your way!
Most of us can see the silliness of ascribing the power, protection, and provision of God to an inanimate object like a bracelet or pendant or horseshoe. Our passage today uses exaggeration and humor to convey the great foolishness of relying on anything or anyone but God.
Note particularly that not only are the idols worthless, but also the one who believes in them is foolish (v. 9). Look through these verses to see the words God used to describe the person who creates and trusts in an idol: blind, ignorant, and deluded are just a few! Next, we see the layers of foolishness. A man, who himself grows weak and tired, crafts an object. The man has limited energy and power, and yet he thinks that somehow this thing he has made will have the power to save him (vv. 12, 17). It’s even more ridiculous, considering that he uses some of the materials (whether iron or wood) for utilitarian purposes like providing heat, and still believes that this same material now has properties worthy of worship. The situation is absurd; he is bowing down to a block of wood (v. 19).
A finite man fashions an inanimate object, and deems it worthy of worship. The man cannot save himself, and the idol has even less power. In contrast, the infinite Creator has fashioned both man and all the heavens and earth (vv. 21, 24). He has demonstrated that He is faithful, loving, and powerful. The only reasonable, rational, and sane response is to bow down before the Lord. Wood makes a great fuel for a fire, but a ridiculous object to worship.
TODAY ALONG THE WAYMost people probably don’t have shrines for idols in their homes, and we don’t bow down before carvings. But the point of today’s passage reminds us that it’s ridiculous to put our confidence in anything or anyone other than God. Just as wood is appropriate for a fire, our relationships and abilities are gifts from God. But we misuse them if our hope for deliverance is placed in our talents, or if we think that our comfort will come from relationships. God alone deserves our worship, our trust, and our complete devotion.
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