Worshipping Idols

 

Isaiah 44 records the account of a man who obtains a piece of wood. Half of it he uses as fuel for the fire to keep himself warm and to cook his meal. The other half he fashions into a shape then bows down and worships it, calling it ‘My God’!

How stupid can you get? We have to laugh at the image this account creates in our minds today but God wasn’t laughing because it was the type of thing His people were doing, which ended in His justifiable wrath being poured out, Israel being overrun by the Assyrians and the people scattered to the nations, and later the small remnant of Judah that survived being taken into exile in Babylon.

Of course, we are not that stupid today, are we? We don’t worship idols, do we? Unless of course we count our favourite 7 iron that always seems to rescue a round of golf (or the golf course or golf itself!), or a night out with mates (which is sacred and comes before all else), or watching Super League on a Friday, or our iPad, iPhone, car, house, power tools (dare I mention Beach Buggy), foreign holidays and anything else of importance (to us) that comes between us and the work God wants us to be doing. History teaches us that failing to worship God alone not only stirs His righteous anger but also that it grieves Him deeply and none of us wants either to happen.

These things are there to be enjoyed and we accept them willingly as a gift from God but, as Rich Webb reminded us earlier in the year, we have no right to them. They are not ours, we do not own them (objects or the time we have), they are only transitory – on loan to us by a gracious God, who really wants us to have a great time in life but always to put Him at the centre where He deserves to be - to be is the root of I AM.

In June I received a Kindle for my birthday and it has revolutionised my life. Due to eyesight problems I have difficulty reading printed text and backlit computer screens also cause a problem after a while making reading a difficult and less than pleasant experience. Not so with the Kindle. I can now read for hours and never tire of it.

Do I worship my Kindle as an idol? Has it become the centre of my life? Well, actually it is the one thing that is exempt from the list for the Lord God himself has declared ‘I WILL KINDLE..’ (Jeremiah 21:14).