READING: Jeremiah 51
“He is the one who formed all things.”
Jeremiah 51:19
I can only imagine what it was like to be an “idol maker” in the ancient world. Somehow, your responsibility was to make a god, formed in your mind and fashioned by your own hands. Then, like others around you, you would bow before your idol and somehow worship it. It all sounds quite strange, actually.
Jeremiah’s assessment was a bit stronger: “Every man is stupid and without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols, for his images are false, and there is no breath in them. They are worthless, a work of delusion; at the time of their punishment they shall perish” (Jer. 51:17-18). The idols had no life, nor could they offer any life. In my thinking, they could bring only shame to the goldsmith for producing something that was worthless and false.
That description of the idols, Jeremiah said, was decidedly different than the God of the Bible: “Not like these is he who is the portion of Jacob, for he is the one who formed all things, and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance; the LORD of hosts is his name” (Jer. 51:19). The goldsmith made the idols . . . but God made all, including the materials the goldsmith used to make the idol. In fact, God made even the goldsmith.
Only He is worthy of our worship.
ACTION STEPS:
- Thank God that He is not a lifeless idol.
- On this Lord’s day, pray for people around the world who are worshiping lifeless creations they’ve made.
PRAYER: “Father, thank You that You can hear me and speak to me through Your Word.”
TOMORROW’S READING: Lamentations 1:1-3:36