Focus Chapters:
- Isaiah 44:6-28
- Isaiah 45-47
- Isaiah 48:1-11
Standout Verse(s):
Isaiah 44:18-20 NLT
Such stupidity and ignorance! Their eyes are closed, and they cannot see. Their minds are shut, and they cannot think. The person who made the idol never stops to reflect, “Why, it’s just a block of wood! I burned half of it for heat and used it to bake my bread and roast my meat. How can the rest of it be a god? Should I bow down to worship a piece of wood?” The poor, deluded fool feeds on ashes. He trusts something that can’t help him at all. Yet he cannot bring himself to ask, “Is this idol that I’m holding in my hand a lie?”
Observation (s):
- Anyone who is unable to accept the real nature of their idols is considered stupid and ignorant.
Such stupidity and ignorance! Their eyes are closed, and they cannot see. Their minds are shut, and they cannot think. The person who made the idol never stops to reflect, “Why, it’s just a block of wood! I burned half of it for heat and used it to bake my bread and roast my meat. How can the rest of it be a god? Should I bow down to worship a piece of wood?”
- We place our trust in idols that cannot help us at all.
The poor, deluded fool feeds on ashes. He trusts something that can’t help him at all. Yet he cannot bring himself to ask, “Is this idol that I’m holding in my hand a lie?”
Application:
When I was a child, my Sunday School teacher highlighted to us that we have many idols. She defined idols as anything that took away our focus from God. At that time, my two main things were the books (especially the romance novels) that I enjoyed reading and my school work. Or in the thought processes pinpointed by Isaiah, fictional stories inked on pieces of paper and a thirst for knowledge.
Today, as I examine the idols I have consciously or subconsciously chosen, not much have changed. I invest a lot of time in using scraps of metal such as my phone, laptop and books in electronic forms. I’ve also spent a lot of time chasing the elusive dream of world’s definition of success.
Isaiah calls us stupid and ignorant when we are unable to admit to the true nature of the things that we have made our idols. No matter how fancy, the cars, phones and laptops are just metal. The house is just brick and mortar. Our clothes is just scraps of cloth. Money is just paper or metal. Our bodies and children are just dust forms with the God-given air of life. These are not things we should put our trust in and ignore God for. Don’t be the fool who trusts in something that cannot help you at all.
