Idol Hands

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 44:9-20

That’s silly. That should be the conclusion a person comes to when they look at an idol they have created. Isaiah noes in on the craftsman who makes an idol in this text, but they are just an example of the larger picture of the human folly of idolatry.

Isaiah describes the carpenter who plants and grows a tree, cuts it down, and uses part of it as fuel for a fire on which he warms himself and cooks his food. He carves the rest of the tree into an idol that he worships. He prays to it and asks it to deliver him. It is silly.

Isaiah comments that this person doesn’t have the good sense to say to himself, “Half of it I burned in the fire; I also baked bread on its coals; I roasted meat and have eaten. And shall I make the rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?”

What is going on here?

The reason for this foolishness is he has a deluded heart. What is worse is people like this are incapable of seeing or understanding the problem. Isaiah says, “He cannot deliver himself or say, ‘Is there not a lie in my right hand?” He has idol hands.

Spiritual discernment, spiritual understanding, and the ability to see through the dark folly of idolatry are all of grace. It is easy to condemn the foolishness of idolatry. It is also right to do so. We can follow Isaiah’s lead here. But it is also important to remember that if we have had our eyes opened, and if we have been delivered from idol hands, it is due to the grace of God.

We didn’t open our own eyes. We didn’t smart our way out of it. We aren’t delivered because we have the inner strength to break the chains that held us. We are saved by grace alone.

Thank God for the grace that delivered us from the delusions and folly of idolatry.