- He cuts down cedars, or he chooses a cypress tree or an oak and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a cedar and the rain nourishes it. Then it becomes fuel for a man. He takes a part of it and warms himself; he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Also he makes a god and worships it; he makes it an idol and falls down before it. Isaiah 44:14-15 – Here we see scripture trying to open the eyes of its readers to what worshipping an idol really looks like. Here we have a man who finds some strong wood. He brings it home and with half he cooks dinner with it and the other half he carves an idol out of to worship and trust his life to. Such folly is worshipping anything other than God. Such folly is trusting anything you create to save you. It’s too easy anymore to let something other than God be what we trust in. The money we make, other people in our life, politicians, our own intellect. Yet see the limited reach of these things, see how they too were created at one point. We need something not created by man, something eternal, and someone with unlimited reach to be what we put our faith in. Thankfully we have all that and more in God. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1245
- Remember these things, O Jacob, and Israel, for you are my servant; I formed you; you are my servant; O Israel, you will not be forgotten by me. I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you. Isaiah 44:21-22 – Isaiah in verses 9-20 gives us one of the best descriptions of the foolishness of idolatry we find in scripture. He reminds us that idols are made by men, who they themselves grow hungry and weak. He points out how man will take a block of wood, half of it he’ll use to cook meat over, and the other half he’ll make an idol out of and worship it saying it’s his god and savior. After unpacking the foolishness of worshipping such idols, Isaiah calls us to remember all that God does in our story. God forms us, not the other way around. God remembers us. God blots out all our wrong, and God redeems us. I’m not seeing any blocks of wood doing that for us. Today, while I doubt many of you are woodcarving an idol to worship this morning, it is far too easy for us to find ourselves giving to things other than God what only God should receive. We can give a person in our life all our time, we can allow a job to give us our identity, and we can put all our trust in something temporary like money. Time, identity, trust, and worship ought to only be given to the Lord or defined by the Lord. Let’s us not fall into the trap of idolatry, but remember the truths about our God from our passage. He alone is worthy of our all. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2711
Daily DEVO 