9 Those who fashion [g]a graven image are all of them futile, and their precious things are of no profit; even their own witnesses fail to see or know, so that they will be put to shame. 10 Who has fashioned a god or cast [h]an idol to no profit? 11 Behold, all his companions will be put to shame, for the craftsmen themselves are mere men. Let them all assemble themselves, let them stand up, let them tremble, let them together be put to shame.
12 The man shapes iron into a cutting tool and does his work over the coals, [i]fashioning it with hammers and working it with his strong arm. He also gets hungry and [j]his strength fails; he drinks no water and becomes weary. 13 Another shapes wood, he extends a measuring line; he outlines it with red chalk. He works it with planes and outlines it with a compass, and makes it like the form of a man, like the beauty of man, so that it may sit in a house. 14 Surely he cuts cedars for himself, and takes a [k]cypress or an oak and [l]raises it for himself among the trees of the forest. He plants a fir, and the rain makes it grow. 15 Then it becomes something for a man to burn, so he takes one of them and warms himself; he also makes a fire to bake bread. He also makes a god and worships it; he makes it a graven image and falls down before it. 16 Half of it he burns in the fire; over this half he eats meat as he roasts a roast and is satisfied. He also warms himself and says, “Aha! I am warm, I have seen the fire.” 17 But the rest of it he makes into a god, his graven image. He falls down before it and worships; he also prays to it and says, “Deliver me, for you are my god.”
18 They do not know, nor do they understand, for He has smeared over their eyes so that they cannot see and their hearts so that they cannot comprehend. 19 No one [m]recalls, nor is there knowledge or understanding to say, “I have burned half of it in the fire and also have baked bread over its coals. I roast meat and eat it. Then [n]I make the rest of it into an abomination, [o]I fall down before a block of wood!” 20 He [p]feeds on ashes; a deceived heart has turned him aside. And he cannot deliver [q]himself, nor say, “Is there not a lie in my right hand?”
In these verses, God makes a big deal out of folks worshipping the works of their hands, and rightly so. It’s just downright silly! And also so very sad that it breaks the heart of God. Some might say, but we’re so civilized now, we don’t worship idols… Or do we? When we put the work of our hands ahead of God, we’ve done the same silly thing.
Where does our worth and value come from? Not from our work, but from God. Certainly, He has good works for us to do also, and the work that we do daily can be a big part of that. Just as James tells us that we cannot be saved by our works, but that faith without works is dead, we know then that God does not call us to sit on our butt and meditate our life away.
God does call us to do that, to spend time with Him, to rest and just sit in His presence, but there is always a balance. I’m reminded of the story of St. Nicholas (at that time Bishop Nicholas), as he returned from the Holy Land. He fell in with some monks at a monastery and thought it would be a good place to stay, perhaps for the rest of His life. God said no, I have work for you to do, so Nicholas continued on to Lycia and God used him mightily.
That was a bit of a rabbit trail, but still important. Back to the idols, we might say in those folks’ defense, “Well, they weren’t really worshipping the block of wood, or the graven image. They were praying to the god of the woods, or the water, or the Sun, mood, birds, etc.” And in all these things, they worship an idea of their own imagining.
For no god of the forest or of the Sun ever showed himself and said, “Hey, you should worship me, for I am great and powerful…” Thus it is still a god of their own making that they worshipping, just something they made in their mind. That is a powerful delusion, as we see in the latter verses, that such a person “cannot deliver himself”.
If such an imagined thing can have so much control over one’s life, how much more should the real God, who has indeed revealed Himself to us? Yet we chafe at the bit, and seek to throw off the bridle, and He will not stop us, and then we wander around in our own wisdom instead of His. Would that we were so devoted to God that we could not deliver ourselves. That we just couldn’t help but serve Him, for the love that is in our hearts, and the gratitude at all He has done.
Yes, we ought to be that captive to God’s unerring will, but somehow it doesn’t come as naturally. So daily we must “take up our cross and follow Him”. At the same time, we must put down our own imaginings and the work of our hand. Reminds me of a silly song where Ernie (Sesame Street) has to put down the ducky to do what he actually wants, to play the saxophone.
He can’t do both, and neither can we. We also must put away the distractions for long enough to actually talk to God, rather talk with God, so that we listen as well. And so that we do His will instead of our own. Take up your cross again today, and follow Him.