idols still

The idols of the nations are silver and gold,

the work of human hands.

They have mouths, but do not speak;

they have eyes, but do not see;

they have ears, but do not hear,

nor is there any breath in their mouths.

Those who make them become like them,

so do all who trust in them.

Psalm 135:15-18

You will most resemble what your heart worships. That is the principle plainly presented in this praise song. Idols are all of human manufacture. They are carved with mouths, eyes, and ears. But they are mute, blind, deaf, unreasoning, and unbreathing. And those who worship them end up the same way: spiritually just dead wood, gilded on the outside, but functionless and empty spiritually on the inside. Idol worship is revealed as a big “dead end”… literally.

Israel had a history of falling for this idolatry… starting with the patriarchs and lasting all the way through the monarchies of Israel and Judah. It only ended when God sent pagan nations to take away His people into exile. Only then did they repent while living in a land of idols to worship and serve God. And when God sent them back home after seventy years, the new generations never tolerated overt idolatry again.

And I might be tempted to think that overt idolatry is not a problem I need to worry about. Until I realize that idolatry actually is rooted in an internal heart condition (Ezekiel 14:4-8). And what I worship there can equally turn my loyalties and make me like it. Idols always have this conforming effect on us. They make us like them. We are deceived to think otherwise. 

If comfort is my idol, I will be uncomfortable when challenged with anything that seems harder than I want it to be. If approval is my mini-god, I will be stressed by constant performance for people. If control is what I worship, I will be angry when things don’t go the way I tried to make them happen… and so on. I can usually trace my problems and unease back to a heart idol that is making me blind, deaf, and dumb to God’s grace and love toward me.

“And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols.” 1 John 5:20-21

To know Jesus is to guard my heart against idols that want to be enshrined there!