Commonsense Worship

Commonsense Worship

Bible Blast: Read Isaiah 44:13-17

Since this is true, we shouldn’t think of God as an idol designed by craftsmen from gold or silver or stone. Acts 17:29

There once was a wood-carver. He was the best in the land. He took care to select only the finest trees for each task at hand. For a chair he would select a hard, lovely cherry wood. For cooking his food, he would find aromatic cedar planks. For warming his home, he would cut down a slow-burning pine tree. At the end of the day, he was so thankful for wood that he cut down just one more tree, carved a statue, and worshiped it!

Hmmm? Sounds ridiculous, but that’s the story that Isaiah 44:13-17 tells. And God tells us how this idol worship makes him feel: “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 44:19-20)

Basically, Isaiah is saying that the wood-carver never stops to think that he is worshiping a block of stinkin’ wood! He’s not even aware of it. This story makes me want to ask you a good question: Do you think that sometimes people worship things without even thinking about it? We “worship” anything that rules or masters how we spend our time and affection. Some people spend way too much time watching TV. Some girls spend way too much time being boy-crazy. Some spend way too much time thinking about how to get rich. Some spend too much time texting. All of these people have made idols and aren’t even aware of it.

Can you think of any idols in your life?

Girl Gab: Pray first and ask God to help you to see anything that might be an idol in your life. It might be that you need to adjust how much time you give to something so you can be more focused on worshiping the one true God. Daughter, talk to your mom about ways you can make sure idols don’t get in the way of worshiping God.