Vital Signs: Wednesday, September 25, 2024

“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?’” - ‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭44:18-20‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Dumb as a Stick

Isaiah points out the foolishness of cutting a log in half, using one half to burn for heat and cooking, and carving the other half into an idol, then worshiping it and expecting it to possess supernatural power. Who would do something as dumb as that, right? We would. We take money and use part of it to provide essentials like heat and food. Then we take the rest and buy things we think will make us happy. We worship our possessions like those who worship a big, dumb wooden idol cut from a log.

Today, may our focus be on God—the one true living God, not on material stuff!