6/21/11 Exodus 20:4-6

⁴ “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. ⁵ You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, ⁶ but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.  (Exodus 20:4-6)

14 He cut down cedars, or perhaps took a cypress or oak. He let it grow among the trees of the forest,
or planted a pine, and the rain made it grow. 15 It is used as fuel for burning; some of it he takes and warms himself, he kindles a fire and bakes bread. But he also fashions a god and worships it; he makes an idol and bows down to it. 16 Half of the wood he burns in the fire;  over it he prepares his meal, he roasts his meat and eats his fill. He also warms himself and says, “Ah! I am warm; I see the fire.”
17 From the rest he makes a god, his idol; he bows down to it and worships. He prays to it and says,
“Save me! You are my god!” (Isaiah 44:14-17)

Little children, keep yourselves from idols.  (I John 5:1)

(Wilson The Volleyball- from "Castaway")

Thoughts: In the movie "Castaway" Tom Hanks had no one to talk to as he was stranded for years on an island.  But he found a volleyball, painted a face on it, and began talking to it, giving it powers it did not really possess.  When we feel alone in the universe, and we cannot see God, it is perhaps too easy to try to make God more visible.  Yet Isaiah rightly shows us the foolishness of it- of the same piece of wood- some warms him, some if fuel to cook his bread, and other parts he forms into a god.  In a world consumed with the scientific method- too many say they will not believe in God because they cannot control the variables and make tangible the intangible.  But not all truth is controlable by the scientific method.  History, for example, is not controllable or reproducible.  Yet history is true.  To say "I have to see it to believe it."  Is saying "we must have idols!" 

Prayer: Help me Lord to trust and believe in you - even when I cannot see you.