Isaiah 44:9 says, “All who make idols are nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless.”

 

In the Old Testament, idol worship was the thing that drew God’s people’s hearts away from Him. They would build statues out of valuable materials, usually of people or animals.

God says in Exodus 20:3 that He will have no other gods besides Him.

Isaiah 44:10 says, “Who shapes a god and casts an idol, which can profit nothing?”

In this passage in Isaiah, the people were crafting idols. These people were skilled craftsmen. They were good at their profession. Gifted. Intelligent. They had talent and abilities. But they were pouring their energy into a worthless endeavor.

Isaiah 44:12 says, “The blacksmith takes a tool and works with it in the coals; he shapes an idol with hammers, he forges it with the might of his arm. He gets hungry and loses his strength; he drinks no water and grows faint.”

They worked so hard on their idols that they stopped eating and drinking. They neglected their health and well being because of the obsession that drove them. 

They were losing themselves and they didn’t even realize it.

Isaiah 44:18 says this about the idols, “They know nothing, they understand nothing; their eyes are plastered over so they cannot see, and their minds closed so they cannot understand.”

We might think the subject of idol worship doesn’t concern us because we aren’t staying up into the wee hours of the night crafting statues that we bow down and give our allegiance too. But I believe that we are very much still in the business of crafting and worshipping idols. Our idols have just taken on a different form.

Idols are the things that have our focus, time, energy, our hearts. Idols are the things that have our attention–they have US.

How do we know whether or not we are investing in idols? How do we know that what we are crafting with our lives has lasting value?

Idol worship might be the number one tactic that the enemy uses to keep us from investing in what TRULY matters. A diversion from the ONE TRUE GOD.

One problem we have is a “here and now” mentality. We don’t think long term. We stay stuck in short-term thinking. We are a culture addicted to instant gratification.

Is what you are investing the majority of your time and energy into going to matter in 6 months? What about 6 years? 20 years? In eternity?

What are your passions? What drives you? What do you spend the majority of your time doing? What do you treasure?

Pastor Rick Warren says we can climb the ladder of success, get to the top, only to realize that our ladder is leaning against the wrong wall.

“The greatest use of a life is to spend it on something that will outlast it.”

~William James

Isaiah 44:20, “Such a person feeds on ashes; a deluded heart misleads him; he cannot save himself, or say, ‘Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?’”

Search your heart. Look at your hand. What are you holding on to? What are you feeding on? What satisfies you?  Is that thing in your right hand a lie? If it is, stop feeding on ashes. Don’t let a deluded heart deceive you for one more second. Throw that worthless idol in the trash. Take hold of the Truth that has the power to set you free. Take hold of Him! And never–ever let go!