Tag Archives: Idolatry

Our Idols are Lying to Us

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Isaiah 44:9-20

In this passage, the prophet Isaiah rails against idolatry and the foolishness of it. He first declares, “All who fashion idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit.” Unlike virtually every nation at that time, Israel believed in one God who had created heaven and earth. They also believed that idolatry was vain, empty, and frankly, stupid.

Sometimes we modern folk think that the people of ancient times were superstitious and irrational in their thinking. And there was a lot of that. But the message which God proclaimed was one of reason. Yes, God emphasizes faith, but not at the expense of reason.

The gist of this passage in Isaiah is that the idols are the creation of a man. The ironsmith creates his image and wears himself out and becomes hungry in the process. The idol does not relieve his hunger. The woodworker expends his energy cutting down a tree, sharpens his tools, makes an idol for himself.

Here is the interesting thing about this latter scenario. The woodworker cuts the log in half. He splits one half and cuts it into smaller pieces so that he can make a fire with which to warm himself. It’s the other half that he uses to create his idol.

Isaiah writes it this way:  “Then it becomes fuel for a man. He takes a part of it and warms himself; he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Also he makes a god and worships it; he makes it an idol and falls down before it. Half of it he burns in the fire. Over the half he eats meat; he roasts it and is satisfied. Also he warms himself and says, ‘Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire!’ And the rest of it he makes into a god, his idol, and falls down to it and worships it. He prays to it and says, ‘Deliver me, for you are my god!’”

I don’t know if you can hear it, but there is mockery in the prophet’s voice. It is shear stupidity to think that you can burn part of a log for heat, and then claim that the other half is a god who can supply needs, protect, and deliver! It is totally irrational, and the Bible, in the words of Isaiah, points this out. There is no power to save in a piece of wood that a man has the power to burn. No one thinks to say, as verse 19 says, “Shall I fall down [in worship] before a block of wood?”

Verse 20 says, “He feeds on ashes; a deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, ‘Is there not a lie in my right hand?’. “But” you say, “we don’t do this. So, what’s the point?”

The point is that we do do this – just not with physical idols. We create idols in our hearts out of things that our “deluded heart” lusts for. We’re generally not satisfied with God and the things He so graciously provides for us to meet our needs. We want more. As John writes in his first epistle, it is the “the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life,” which, he says, do not come from the father but are from the world – these are the things that we want.

Our natural self longs for the affirmation of others. We want to be seen as beautiful, strong, sexy, self-confident, popular, rich, and/or … the list could go on. Our lusts tell us that if we had just a few more likes on Facebook, or one more look at a pornographic site, or a faster, sportier car, or if we were stronger and more athletic,  then we would surely be happier and more content. Look at commercials. Isn’t that the message? Whether people are drinking the best coffee, driving a car over desert sand dunes, or vacationing with their spouse in the Caribbean, they are all smiling and having loads of fun. But you – you live just a mundane life in your average home, driving a used grocery-getter car with two of the back seats taken up with approved baby-carrying booster seats. Our lusts cry out, “Give us our idols! I want what those people have!”

We are being lied to. Our idols are promising the world, but giving us nothing but sorrow, emptiness, and regret. Look at what Eve was promised in the garden. She looked at the fruit and when she “saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate,” and the human race was plunged into all of the devastating consequences that resulted from our first parents’ disobedience.

Let’s be like the Thessalonian Christians who “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God” (1 Thessalonians 1:9). And let’s obey the admonition of the apostle John who said, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols” (1 John 5:21). Let’s not just keep ourselves from idols, let’s follow Paul’s admonition to “flee from idolatry” (1 Corinthians 10:14).

“When you follow the trail of your time, energy, affection, and money, you find a throne. And whatever or whomever is on that throne is the object of your worship.” ~Louie Giglio

Let’s make sure God is the one on that throne. Don’t believe the lies!

Put Away the Idols

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I’ve been thinking about Joshua 24:15 where Joshua tells the people to “choose this day whom you will serve.” He goes on to say that as for him, he and his family will serve the Lord. In one sense it sounds like a commitment challenge: “From now on, whom are you going to serve?” But in another sense, I think it is a question that faces us each and every day. “Today, whom will you serve?” Today, as you do your work, interact with your family, watch tv – whom will you serve?

Joshua then mentions a couple of possibilities. Will you serve the gods which your fathers served? Or will you, perhaps, serve the gods of the peoples around you? These are questions for us as well. Today we typically don’t have physical statues of gods that we bow down to. Rather, we bow to internal gods and cultural gods. Sometimes there is a trend in our family where our parents or grandparents set a bad example and maybe helped us develop habits of sin that become gods. These would be the gods our fathers served. Sometimes we pick up the worship of these gods from those around us, the people we work with, things we watch on TV or online.

What are some things that find their place as gods for us? There are many. Some examples include money and materialism. Other gods include the god of sex, popularity, prestige, or fashion. Sometimes sports and entertainment become idols for people. Think about how John summarizes the world: lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh and the pride of life. Anything that attracts us in these areas can become a god.

How can you tell if something has become a god, replacing the one true God? Think about your reaction if it is taken away. Another way to think about it is where are your affections directed? Where do spend your free time and your extra money? What do you feel like you really have to do or have, and if you don’t, you will feel deprived, depressed, or left out? If we’re honest with ourselves, our idols are not really all that hard to find. If you find something that you think might have become a god for you, commit to getting rid of it for a month. If that’s an easy thing, perhaps it is not a god for you, but if, after a few days, you can hardly stand being without that thing or situation or pastime, maybe you need to take a closer look.

What did Joshua tell the people they should do in verse 23? He said, “Put away the foreign gods which are among you, and incline your heart to the Lord God of Israel.” We need to put away the false gods we worship, and we also need to incline our heart toward God. Stop looking at the idol and start to look at Christ who died for you to pay your penalty for all the sinful garbage that attracts and entangles you.

Technology and Idolatry

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            One of the important things for us as Christians to recognize regarding technology is that it can become an idol, either in itself or in the perceived benefits it provides.

            Tim Challies observes, “There are always spiritual realities linked to our use of technology. We know that there is often a link between our use of technology and idolatry, that our idols are often good things that want to become ultimate things in our lives. Communication with others is just this sort of good thing, a very good thing, that can so easily become an ultimate thing—an idol in our hearts. How can we tell if something has become an idol? One possible sign of idolatry is when we devote an inordinate amount of time and attention to something, when we feel less than complete without it. It may be something that we look at right before we go to sleep, and the first thing we give our attention to when we wake up. It may be the kind of thing that keeps us awake, even in the middle of the night.” (The Next Story, page 74)

            Challies gives us several indications as to when a thing might be becoming an idol. One of the things he mentions is the devotion of an inordinate amount of time to something or anything we feel incomplete without. Haven’t you felt these inclinations in yourself when it comes to your smart phone or computer? Haven’t you felt the sensation that says, “What do I do now?” when your phone or computer is out of order? Do you feel compelled to check your Facebook page before you do almost anything else in the morning? Almost certainly most of us check email or Facebook before we even check in with God in prayer or read His Word. That indicates the possibility of an idolatrous situation taking place.

            One author suggests that people have begun to see technology and the Internet as a sort of spiritual existence: “Many see in cyberspace nothing less than a new, spiritual heaven that is open to all who are computer literate, that is, ‘baptized,’ some observe. Cyberspace gives us the means to realize ‘a dream thousands of years old: the dream of transcending the physical world, fully alive, at will, to dwell in some Beyond—to be empowered or enlightened there, alone or with others, and to return,’ writes editor Michael Benedikt in the influential essay collection Cyberspace: First Steps.” (Distracted, page 51)

            People have always had the tendency to be attracted by the idea of out-of-body experiences and existence. The Internet gives them that capability to a degree. They don’t have to be real; they can become strong online when they are weak in person. They can be beautiful online when they may be plain in person. Such capabilities are alluring to some people and take on an idolatrous tug.

            Challies says that we need to figure out what idol we may be serving. “What is really happening here? Why do we feel this constant need to communicate with others? What idol are we serving? There are any number of idols we may be serving through the tools of communication technology:

 • We may be serving the idol of productivity, communicating so that we feel as though we are being productive, constantly answering work-related e-mails or monitoring work-related social media platforms, feeling the need to respond instantly and decisively morning, noon, or night.

 • We may be serving the idol of significance, finding a sense of value in the number of people who notice us and interact with us. People with an idol of significance will measure their success or popularity by the number of friends they have on Facebook or the number of followers on Twitter. They make popularity something that can be measured and analyzed and feel that their own significance increases as more people pay attention to them and interact with them online.

 • It may be that the very desire for information is an idol for us; that we feel as if having more information holds the key to living a better life.” (The Next Story, page 75)

            One type of sin that I think is related to the idol of significance that Challies mentions is the twin sins of pride and envy. Now that we have the ability to inform all of our friends about every move we make, there is a tendency to mention things that we secretly hope will arouse a certain amount of jealousy. Let’s let people know about our latte at Starbucks or the powerful engine in our new truck. Why not inform people that you are having a fantastic time in Bermuda during the middle of a cold winter. I need to be careful here because it is possible to inform friends of these things without having any intention of arousing their jealousy, but it seems to me there is a danger here that we need to be alert to.  Even in the case when our own motive might be pure, we need to learn to have caution as to how we might be provoking others through our carelessness. As Christians we are not supposed to be causing others to stumble, and when we blatantly announce every new purchase or exciting adventure, we may be triggering jealousy in others.

            The Bible tells us to flee idolatry. The natural tendency when one reads an article such as this one, is to go immediately into self-defense mode and to deny that anything close to idolatry exists in our lives. A more prudent reaction would be to go to God humbly and ask Him to reveal to us any areas of our life where He is not first. Ask Him for wisdom to determine whether something about technology – having it, jealousy of others, pride and boasting in social media, or anything else has become an idol.

            The Bible tells us in 1 John 2:15 that we should not love the world. A love of the world is an indication that the love of the Father is not in us. John then goes on to tell us what things demonstrate this love of the world. 1 John 2:16 “For all that is in the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – is not of the Father but is of the world.”

            I’m sure if we look carefully and think deeply, we can see that there is potential for each of these three characteristics of worldly focus to be present in our use of technology. As Christians, let’s take steps to recognize God in His proper place and put our technology in its proper place – a place of helpfulness and productivity, but not the place of control and mastery. As Paul said, “All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.” 1 Corinthians 6:12 (Emphasis mine)

Here are some steps that might help us determine whether some technology (or anything) is becoming an idol in our lives.

  1. Evaluate the amount of time you spend with technology, playing games, mindlessly hopping around the Internet, checking Facebook posts, etc., compared to the amount of time you spend in the scriptures, praying, meditating, etc.
  2. Examine the attraction of the technology compared to the attraction of other things. When you first get up in the morning, is your first instinct to check Facebook or email, or do you get showered, dressed, and have devotions before checking in with your technology?
  3. Ask yourself how you would feel if you had a technology-free week with the only exception being voice phone calls. Is the feeling similar to the feeling you would have if you missed your Bible reading, prayer, and church attendance for a week?

When you follow the trail of your time, energy, affection, and money, you find a throne.  And whatever or whomever is on that throne is the object of your worship. ~Louie Giglio

Is There Not a Lie in My Right Hand?

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Is There Not a Lie in My Right Hand?
(Reprinted from April 2016)

Much has been said and written about modern logic from the Enlightenment forward and how ancient peoples, including those in the Bible, were superstitious and illogical. However, the God of the Bible is revealed as a logical being and those who spoke for this true God spoke with incredible logic.
I was reading from Isaiah 44 this morning. Isaiah lived and wrote about 700 BC which is nearly 3000 years ago. In this passage he is discussing the foolishness of idolatry and he write about the insanity of a person cutting a log from the forest and using half of it to have a fire for cooking and warming himself and using the other half to make an idol to worship. In verse 10 he asks this question, “Who would form a god or mold an image That profits him nothing?” (Isaiah 44:10, NKJV).

Here is the way Isaiah explains the situation beginning in verse 14:
“He cuts down cedars for himself, And takes the cypress and the oak; He secures it for himself among the trees of the forest. He plants a pine, and the rain nourishes it. Then it shall be for a man to burn, For he will take some of it and warm himself; Yes, he kindles it and bakes bread; Indeed he makes a god and worships it; He makes it a carved image, and falls down to it. He burns half of it in the fire; With this half he eats meat; He roasts a roast, and is satisfied. He even warms himself and says, “Ah! I am warm, I have seen the fire.” And the rest of it he makes into a god, His carved image. He falls down before it and worships it, Prays to it and says, “Deliver me, for you are my god!” They do not know nor understand; For He has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, And their hearts, so that they cannot understand. And no one considers in his heart, Nor is there knowledge nor understanding to say, “I have burned half of it in the fire, Yes, I have also baked bread on its coals; I have roasted meat and eaten it; And shall I make the rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?” He feeds on ashes; A deceived heart has turned him aside; And he cannot deliver his soul, Nor say, “Is there not a lie in my right hand?”” (Isaiah 44:14–20, NKJV)

As a modern twenty-first century man, I am astounded by the logic of this ancient writing! The author is incredulous that someone would take a piece of wood and see plainly that it is consumable in a fire and with the other half make himself a “god” that he prays to and from whom he asks deliverance. He rightly asks the question, “Is there not a lie in my right hand?”

In our modern world we are not likely to carve and image and expect it to help us with our problems. But don’t we do the same thing when we trust in our stuff, our material possessions, to provide us with fulfillment, the esteem of others, and general well-being in life? Aren’t we doing the same thing when we do not give God praise and thanks for the air we breathe and the water we drink or when we do not acknowledge that every good thing we have is due to God’s grace and generosity?

Many are in the position of spending millions of dollars and countless hours of research to produce better cameras for our phones and at the same time argue that our eyes are the result of time and chance. Shouldn’t we as modern people be asking ourselves, “Am I believing and living a lie?  Am I as deceived as this ancient man?”

Psalm 96:4-5 says, “For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are idols, But the Lord made the heavens.”

 

Is There Not a Lie in My Right Hand?

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Much has been said and written about modern logic from the Enlightenment forward and how ancient peoples, including those in the Bible, were superstitious and illogical. However, the God of the Bible is revealed as a logical being and those who spoke for this true God spoke with incredible logic.

I was reading from Isaiah 44 this morning. Isaiah lived and wrote about 700 BC which is nearly 3000 years ago. In this passage he is discussing the foolishness of idolatry and he write about the insanity of a person cutting a log from the forest and using half of it to have a fire for cooking and warming himself and using the other half to make an idol to worship. In verse 10 he asks this question, “Who would form a god or mold an image That profits him nothing?” (Isaiah 44:10, NKJV).

Here is the way Isaiah explains the situation beginning in verse 14:

“He cuts down cedars for himself, And takes the cypress and the oak; He secures it for himself among the trees of the forest. He plants a pine, and the rain nourishes it. Then it shall be for a man to burn, For he will take some of it and warm himself; Yes, he kindles it and bakes bread; Indeed he makes a god and worships it; He makes it a carved image, and falls down to it. He burns half of it in the fire; With this half he eats meat; He roasts a roast, and is satisfied. He even warms himself and says, “Ah! I am warm, I have seen the fire.” And the rest of it he makes into a god, His carved image. He falls down before it and worships it, Prays to it and says, “Deliver me, for you are my god!” They do not know nor understand; For He has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, And their hearts, so that they cannot understand. And no one considers in his heart, Nor is there knowledge nor understanding to say, “I have burned half of it in the fire, Yes, I have also baked bread on its coals; I have roasted meat and eaten it; And shall I make the rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?” He feeds on ashes; A deceived heart has turned him aside; And he cannot deliver his soul, Nor say, “Is there not a lie in my right hand?”” (Isaiah 44:14–20, NKJV)

As a modern twenty-first century man, I am astounded by the logic of this ancient writing! The author is incredulous that someone would take a piece of wood and see plainly that it is consumable in a fire and with the other half make himself a “god” that he prays to and from whom he asks deliverance. He rightly asks the question, “Is there not a lie in my right hand?”

In our modern world we are not likely to carve and image and expect it to help us with our problems. But don’t we do the same thing when we trust in our stuff, our material possessions, to provide us with fulfillment, the esteem of others, and general well-being in life? Aren’t we doing the same thing when we do not give God praise and thanks for the air we breathe and the water we drink or when we do not acknowledge that every good thing we have is due to God’s grace and generosity?

Many are in the position of spending millions of dollars and countless hours of research to produce better cameras for our phones and at the same time argue that our eyes are the result of time and chance. Shouldn’t we as modern people be asking ourselves, “Am I believing and living a lie?  Am I as deceived as this ancient man?”