What does God think of idols?
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| English: Asa destroys the idols and forbids worship in local shrines (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
(Isa. 41:24).
The passage before us condemns those who are foolish enough to worship idols. It exposes the futility of putting something in the place of God, for if we think rationally about it, nothing created can be the cause of our existence. Nothing created can know itself perfectly from beginning to end. Nothing created has any power over itself, much less power over those things it does not understand.
Isaiah knew that when the Jews were taken into exile they would be mocked by the Babylonians and Persians for their devotion to Jehovah. They would be ridiculed as being simple-minded and naive. To help prepare the Jews, Isaiah reminded them through this prophecy that those who worship idols are the foolish ones. Did idols foretell the fall of the Assyrians?
Did idols foretell the exile of the Jewish people? Did idols turn the river to blood in Egypt or send darkness when there should have been light? Can idols bring both healing and adversity? This is the point made in verse 23, when Isaiah said, ‘ “Show the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that you are gods; yes, do good or do evil, that we may be dismayed and see it together.” ’ He is not saying that God commits sinful acts, but he is saying that God is the one who has the power to send calamity on unsuspecting nations, and that He is the one who can lift up even the most humble when there appears to be no hope of freedom.
One must ask the obvious question after reading this passage on the futility of idols: Why would anyone worship something so impotent? The answer, of course, is sin and our enmity against God. But underlying this aversion to worshiping God is the desire to exalt ourselves. Stephen Charnock once wrote, “Men are unwilling to acquaint themselves with any truth that leads to God because it leads from self.… Man cannot desire any intimacy with that law which he regards as a bird of prey, to pick out his right eye or gnaw off his right hand.” The reason men refuse to acknowledge the truth and foolishly worship creatures is that they have such high thoughts of themselves. Their pride is so great that they cannot bring themselves to sacrifice their own desires and bring their wills into compliance with God’s. Instead of humbling themselves, they appease their religious appetites by worshiping idols and hence retain a lofty view of themselves.
Many people today believe that men have the right to worship any god they want and in any way. What does God think of idols? What areas in your own life are you unwilling to submit to God? What idols have you erected as the result of that obstinacy? Confess these to God and remove them from your life.
