All who make idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit; their witnesses neither see nor know. And so they will be put to shame. Who would fashion a god or cast an image that can do no good?

– Isaiah 44:9-10

Those were the words that greeted me when I sat down for my devotional time earlier this week. It’s one of those biblical stories that, at first glance, does not translate well into our time. Occurring at the end of a lengthy speech, Isaiah is continuing to show that Yahweh was both willing and able to deliver God’s chosen people in the face of people who would choose to worship other gods. It was no doubt a difficult case to make, since God’s chosen people continued to languish in exile at the hands of the Babylonians, having seen their land confiscated and their Temple destroyed. Suffice to say, they didn’t look much like the chosen people of any god. It is in that context that we struggle to find relevance in Isaiah’s words. After all, we are not in captivity. We don’t worship idols, right?

Idol makers, Isaiah argues, engage in futile activity because the idols they make do not profit people. Those who promote idol worship do not see the folly of their activity, but Isaiah questions why anyone would be so foolish as to fashion an idol that does not profit anyone. The whole idea seemed ridiculous to the prophet. Eugene Peterson’s interpretation of this passage in The Message is even more compelling.

“Who would bother making gods that can’t do anything, that can’t “god”?

In other words, you can build whatever you want, work hard at it, pour your heart and soul into it and call it a god, but in the end, it’s still just your creation. It is, as Isaiah argues, like making an idol from half of a piece of wood and burning the other half. In the end, the warmth of the burning wood is of more use than the half carved as an idol.

Most of us don’t do a lot of carving, but we build idols nonetheless. They are the parts of our lives that we build in an ongoing quest for happiness, satisfaction and meaning. We work for it, build it, nurture it and then invite God to be a part of it in hopes that it will somehow become holy. But in the end, that which we build is ours and ours alone. What we find too often is that our idols do not bring satisfaction, and we go in search of new idols. Meanwhile, God is waiting.

Isaiah’s words ring as true today as they did centuries ago. Pursuing idols is like feeding on ashes. They may be filling, but they’ll never satisfy.

See you Sunday.