why making your god out of firewood just doesn't make sense.
18 "What profit is an idol
when its maker has shaped it,
a metal image, a teacher of lies?
For its maker trusts in his own creation
when he makes speechless idols!
19 Woe to him who says to a wooden thing, Awake;
to a silent stone, Arise!
Can this teach?Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver,
and there is no breath at all in it.
20But the LORD is in his holy temple;
let all the earth keep silence before him."
Habakkuk 2:18-20 (ESV)
13The carpenter stretches a line; he marks it out with a pencil. He shapes it with planes and marks it with a compass. He shapes it into the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to dwell in a house. 14
He cuts down cedars, or he chooses a cypress tree or an oak and lets it
grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a cedar and the
rain nourishes it. 15Then
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. 16Half
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!" 17And 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!" 18They
know not, nor do they discern, for he has shut their eyes, so that they
cannot see, and their hearts, so that they cannot understand. 19No
one considers, nor is there knowledge or discernment to say, "Half of
it I burned in the fire; I also baked bread on its coals; I roasted
meat and have eaten. And shall I make the rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?"
Isaiah 44:13-19 (ESV)
Combined with the Nooma named "Rich" I've been reminded recently of how incredibly ridiculous our obsession with stuff is here in America. There are millions of things I want...its a constant battle to not be constantly searching for something to buy (see: how often I've typed that in the past.) Look at the passages above...how ridiculous do we look? We take things humans have made and spend our lives chasing them. We cut a block of wood and decide that half of it is worth worshipping and half of it is firewood. See a problem there? Our lives are devoted to consumption. From the time we're born we are trained that to do well in life is to make more money. We look up to people richer than us and look down on those who "waste their lives" by not making going to college/making money/etc...
The question is...is that guy who decides to work at Mcdonald's really wasting his life? Who decided that? Who said that this job or that job were considered "careers" and some are not satisfactory? I understand the need to be self sufficient...people need to work. Its innate. Its biblical. Its got to happen. I just struggle with drawing a line between "success" and "failure" based on the size of a paycheck or the nature of a job.
We no longer fashion real idols for the most part. We never say "My ipod will save me"; we just spend our lives trying to get the latest one. One of the many definitions for God is "one that is worshipped, idealized, or followed" (1) with "ardent devotion; adoration" being a definition of worship. (2) So if our god is simply what we give ardent devotion to then how can we argue that anything other than the american dream is our god? Every aspect of our lives is more shaped by our desire for stuff than by the real God we claim to worship.
What are you giving ardent devotion to?
What are you chasing?
On this Ash Wednesday it might be our idolatry that we need to repent of.
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Comments
Great post. Totally agree... Strong passages as well! I like your thoughts:)
Blessings,
Mathias Tjomsland