Scripture Passage
Scripture Focus
Who but a fool would make his own god—
(Isaiah 44:10 NLT)
Observation
I can’t get past the opening verses of today’s reading. I love the image Isaiah paints of the futility and irony of the idol maker’s work.
Isaiah starts with the blacksmith (44:12) who works up a hearty appetite forming a sharp tool…so the wood carver can shape a piece of wood (44:13)…into the image of a false god to be worshipped! If those statements alone weren’t ironic enough, Isaiah goes on to describe how the wood carver carefully selects just the right wood to create his idol—and then uses the other half of the same log to cook his meal (44:15)!
He burns part of the tree to roast his meat
and to keep himself warm.
He says, “Ah, that fire feels good.”
Then he takes what’s left
and makes his god: a carved idol!
He falls down in front of it,
worshiping and praying to it.
“Rescue me!” he says.
“You are my god!”
(Isaiah 44:16-17 NLT)
I say, “How stupid!” (Well, not just me—so does Isaiah 44:18). And yet how often have I done the same thing—reducing God to less than He is…shaping God into someone a little more like me, instead of letting God shape me into someone a little more like Him! We’re all guilty of it—we’ve been made in the image of God, but we’ve made God in the image of man!
But this God—as today’s reading goes on to point out—is too great…too awesome…too mighty to be trapped into my box. When I expect judgment, He extends mercy. When I think I’m off the hook, I discover I’ve pushed things too far. When I think there’s no hope, He breaks through the darkness and brings an absolute heathen (Cyrus the Persian? C’mon!) as my deliverer. And when He rescues me, He does so not because I’m worthy of being rescued, but because He’s worthy of being praised! (48:11)
And you can’t chisel that out of a block of wood! So don't be a blockhead—
Let all the world look to me for salvation!
For I am God; there is no other.
(Isaiah 45:22 NLT)
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