A Lie In My Right Hand

In Isaiah 44 the Lord explained the utter foolishness of those who made idols and worshipped them.  He declared, “They that make a graven image are all of them vanity; and their delectable things shall not profit; and they are their own witnesses; they see not, nor know” (v. 9).  He explained why it was so irrational to believe in these manmade objects: “The smith with the tongs both worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with the strength of his arms: yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth: he drinketh no water, and is faint.”  In other words, the little object was made by a man who formed it with the strength of his own arms, and unlike for the Lord who “fainteth not,” for this man who made the idol “his strength faileth” and when he doesn’t drink water he “is faint” (Isaiah 40:28).  Similarly, the Lord continued, “The carpenter stretcheth out his rule; he marketh it out with a line; he fitteth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compass, and maketh it after the figure of a man” (Isaiah 44:12-13).  Again, the Lord argued, these little objects were formed by a man “after the figure of a man.”  How could these be superior beings that could help you, the Lord seemed to be saying, when you made them no better than yourselves?  It would be like building a toy car out of wood, making look somewhat like a real vehicle, and then expecting it to not only to be similar to an actual steel car but to actually be more powerful than the real thing.  

Not only were these idols made by man, but the same material that helped form the idols was used for the most common of practices: “He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the oak….  Then shall it be for a man to burn: for he will take thereof, and warm himself; yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread; yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto.  He burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is satisfied: yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire: And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image: he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it.”  So the wood was cut down from the forest and some was used for a fire to make bread, some to roast meet, and some to simply burn for heat to warm the man, and the “residue” was used to make a god for him to worship.  How foolish indeed for them to not consider that the same tree that was used for these tasks would then be made into objects of worship such that the people did “fall down” before them.  When worshipping these little statues these apostate Israelites did not have the understanding or wisdom to ask themselves as they held their idols in their hands, “Is there not a lie in my right hand?” (Isaiah 44:14-20)

                So what is the lesson in this chapter for us today?  I don’t know anybody who actually kneels down and worships a piece of wood or other inanimate object, but surely we have a problem of idol worship in the way that we value the things that we own above everything else.  Our idols I think are just a little more fancy than back then and we worship them a little more discreetly—but the problem is the same.  From the green pieces of paper in our wallet to the large screen we stare at in our houses to the extra fancy seats we put in our cars, to name a few items, surely our society in general has a problem of placing their hearts and energy upon the manmade things that cannot save us.  Many of us carry our own little manmade metal object in our right hands that we place extremely high value on—we stare at it walking down the hall despite being surrounded by real people, we talk to it to ask questions as if it were a real person with full trust that it knows everything, and we send messages on it to people not present (while ignoring the people who are present right next to us).  It was created by man and yet we, consciously or not, often place its value above that of man as pay more attention to it than to real people around us.  Of course a phone has great value and I’m quite grateful for the conveniences of communication and information it provides me, but if we aren’t careful I think it can be far too similar to the handheld wooden objects of the Israelites from 2700 years ago.  I think we have to check ourselves and frequently ask the question as we look down at our own gadgets: “Is there a lie in my right hand?”