Dragging straw

Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field are they [idols],

And they cannot speak;

They must be carried,

Because they cannot walk!

Do not fear them,

For they can do no harm,

Nor can they do any good.

      Jeremiah 10:5

We see the foolishness of idolatry. Is there any greater idiocy than turning your bracelet into a statue of a cow and declaring this is the god who saved me? We parade these things before us; we drag them along behind us. We wrap them against our chest because of the cold. We sacrifice to them and for them. We lug the weight of their nothingness and slavery, dripping sweat onto them, which we will have to wipe away. There is no crueler god than the indifferent master. Everything we worship that is not the living Savior is viciously heavy and maddeningly silent.

We feel abandoned when we shout to our God, when we plead in earnestness and tears, and He does not act how we have determined He should. It is better to receive a heart breaking answer, even no discernible answer. Than to ask, beg, and plead, and have no one even hear. In the anger and the trembling and the blistered faith ready to burst, God is. He gathers up our wounded words and is not careless with our tears. He does not run from our wrath, nor pour out His own. He is. And He loves. And because He is, it is well.

But they are not. And nothing can ever be well in their service.

Why do we cling to these dumb and immobile gods? Do we think our image, our life, our needs, our pets, our fixes, our loves are so very precious?

"We don't worship ourselves and our idolotrinkets because we esteem them so highly. We do it because we esteem ourselves, our true identity, and the one true God so lowly." Jennifer Rothschild, Hosea.

May we have more faith in the God who is, who sees, speaks, hears, delights, and saves. We need no other master. We need no other purpose. We need no other fix. They are heavy, indifferent, and silent lords, but He...

For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive,
And abundant in lovingkindness to all who call upon You.
Give ear, O Yahweh, to my prayer;
And give heed to the voice of my supplications!
In the day of my trouble I shall call upon You,
For You will answer me.
There is no one like You among the gods, O Lord.
   Psalm 86:5-8a