Well, it has been a while since my last blog and lately, I have been in the mood to blog again. For about the past month, I have been reading through Isaiah and let me just say...WOW. What an amazing illustration of God's pursuit of His people.
The 44th chapter of Isaiah begins like this: "But now hear, O Jacob my servant, Israel whom I have chosen!" The rest of the chapter goes on to first talk about how God, in His complete sovereignty, pursues his people despite their disobedience and worship of idols. He reminds them that there is no God besides Him. No one to come before Him, or after Him. In fact, it's almost as if God mocks the idea of any other gods besides him when he asks in verse 7, "Who is like me? Let him proclaim it. Let him declare and set it before me, since I appointed an ancient people. Let them declare what is to come, and what will happen."
God is taunting even the thought that another god could challenge Him.
In verse 9, God's tone changes a little. "All who fashion idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit. Their witnesses neither see nor know, that they may be put to shame." What does this mean? I'll tell you what I think it means. Many people in this world simply do not know God. Therefore, the wisdom of God, His word, His commandments, His calling His people to a life of holiness........certain people just don't understand. Not only do they not understand, it's not even on their radar!
In the movie Castaway, Tom Hanks, who is in a plane crash and washed ashore on a deserted island, is forced to do what it takes to survive once he realizes that nobody knows where he is. In a very memorable moment in the movie, Tom builds his very first fire on the beach. He is so proud of his accomplishment that he almost begins to worship the fire. The same can be said for his friend Wilson, Tom's volleyball with a painted face, whom Tom begins a relationship with in order to keep him company. I bring these illustrations up because they are a great picture of man worshipping idols, simply because he doesn't know any better.
Verses 12-20 give several examples of mankind and their creations and how despite man's amazing accomplishments, at the end of the day, we are still human and thus, not worthy of worship. We still need food, water, rest, shelter, etc. In a nutshell, we are not God!
Here is the difficult part of the passage...God says that people who have no relationship with Him, meaning they haven't given their life to God's son Jesus Christ, really have no way of knowing any better. They have no ability to discern the difference between the one true God, and idols worshiped by man. Verse 18 says, "They 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."
So, what do I mean when I say "idols"? Well, an idol could be considered anything that occupies the majority of your time and attention and desire. In other words, an idol can be a good thing that becomes a god thing in your life. For example, work, sports, movies, Hollywood, money, material possessions. If you consider any of these things to be THE "important" things in life, or even the things that motivate you to get up every day and work hard so that you can have these things, then they are idols. At the end of the day, they might bring temporary happiness, but they won't bring eternal joy. Only God can do that, through the salvation that He offers through faith in His son Jesus. Jesus came to take away the idols in our life and He demands that we worship Him and Him alone.
So, how do we apply this passage to our lives? Well, for starters, I'm sure there are many of you that have people in their lives who are non-christians and their lives revolve around idol worship. It will do you no good to try to correct their life style. God tells us in verse 18 above that, "He has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, and their hearts, so that they cannot understand." So, it becomes a matter of the heart. We need to pray that God will change their heart and that he will use us to initiate that change. Only through the gift of the Holy Spirit into their lives through faith in Jesus, can a person be woken up and shown the error of their ways.
On a more positive note, all you have to do is ask Jesus into your life, devote yourself to Him through repentance of your previous sinful ways, and the rest is history! He will change your life and open your eyes and heart to see and understand things that you never dreamed of! The whole world will look a lot different and trivial things in life that used to matter quite a bit, will all of a sudden not be so important.
When I started this blog post, I really didn't know where it would go, but there you have it. I hope you enjoyed and gained something from it.
To God be the glory!
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