in the rubble of our idols

O Lord, my strength and my stronghold,
my refuge in the day of trouble,
to you shall the nations come
from the ends of the earth and say:
“Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies,
worthless things in which there is no profit.
Can man make for himself gods?
Such are not gods!”
Jeremiah 16:19-20

People worship. We always worship. If we don't worship God, we will worship a god. We will look to a false god, or a thing, or a person for all our comfort and satisfaction in life. We will attempt to express our need to worship in a false way. And we will be disappointed when we are deceived by those delusions that are the reality of idolatry.

Part of the judgment of our idolatry is the letdown that false worship brings. Sometimes it is that disappointment that leads us back to God. Sometimes it is the depression that accompanies the lies of our idolatry. Other times God may lead us to experience utter desolation to bring us to the end of our idols. Either way, we see the lies in the false worship and hold nothing in our hands or hearts when it all falls apart. The experience of idolatry leaves us nothing personally meaningful. We make for ourselves gods that are not gods and find them to be powerless. Not only are they not gods, but they are less than we are because we made them.

Our hands build idols that our hearts ascribe worth to, only to find the failure of false worship. That is the vicious result that will follow us when we turn from God. And the only good thing about it is that in the inevitable crash of falling idols, the still small voice of God can call us out of the rubble and back to Him. It is a good thing that false worship does not fulfill. It can prod the heart back to the mercies and love of God.