Isaiah 44:10-20 – What Am I Doing?
The picture here is of a man who takes a log, cuts it in two, and burns half in the fire. He warms himself by it. He bakes up some food. And the other part of it, the very same log that he has just cut up, that he has just now used, that he has shown his power over, he bows down to it as the one who has power over him. It’s ridiculous. But it’s the way people are. And they don’t stop to think, ‘What am I doing? What is the matter with me?’ Someone who would do such a thing as this, even all his friends would be ashamed. How can mere men make a God? No idol can possibly be more powerful than its maker. And actually, it’s less so. Far less so. What, with all this time and effort that the blacksmith is spending working on this idol, you’d think his false God would be kind and helpful to him. But it can’t be. It can’t take care of his hunger or his thirst. A woodworker is taking all this time and trouble and difficulty to make an idol out of wood to look just like another person. And instead of man being made in the image of God, this idol is being made in the image of man.
An idol is any false god, anything to whom you give your heart and make the centre of your life. It doesn’t have to be made of iron or steel, or wood, or gold. It can be an idea. Idols are created to serve and please man. Idols are created to keep him from the true God. Idols serve to reassure man that his fallen nature isn’t really all that bad. Man likes these false gods that don’t have a lot of power, because ultimately, man idolizes himself. Ultimately, man is his own god, and with false gods he can have power over them. He makes them, and he influences them.
They who are making and worshipping idols can’t see how stupid they really are. We read this in verse 18. God has shut their eyes so that they cannot see, and their hearts so that they cannot understand. Those who take these idols and worship them are eating ashes. They have a deceived heart, a dead heart, a heart filled with sin. And one like this cannot deliver his soul. He cannot save himself. There is no hope within himself. What can deliver his soul? Only the living and true God and the Saviour Whom He has sent.
Questions
- Why are idols so foolish?
- What is an idol?
Prayer Points
- Pray for the salvation of the people living around us.
- Use prayer points from your congregation.
- Pray for family matters.