 | Isaiah 44:18 "They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand."
I know when it is flu season because I get all sorts of information about a flu shot. I recently received a card in the mail that could get me a discount on my flu shot. How miserable! I don't like to spend money on the flu! The flu is bad, getting a shot is bad; and if I had my way, I wouldn't touch either! No matter what you think about the flu shot, it is an inoculation against a coming menace. That is what Isaiah 44 is: an inoculation-a warning-from Almighty God against the wickedness of idolatry.
God ridicules the prospect of worshipping an idol. How ridiculous, He says, for a man to chop down a tree, use half to build a fire to cook his supper and use the other half to build a god (verses 15-17). But the verse that caught my attention was verse 18: "They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand." The person who depends on a man-made god that cannot see or hear is just as blind and without knowledge as his god!
This passage in Isaiah immediately reminded me of Psalm 115 and Psalm 135 in which idols had mouths, eyes, ears, noses, and feet but could not speak, see, hear, smell, or walk. Psalm 115:8 condemns the one who puts his dependence in them by saying, "They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them." A person who puts his dependence in such a god will go through life the same way: without perception, without knowledge, and without sight. In contrast, God Almighty is everything you need for nourishment and knowledge. Taking your hope from God and placing it in an idol is transparently shallow. What a shallow substitute for the real thing!
The point this morning is this: You are only as good as the God (or god) you serve. Is that good news or bad news? Well, that depends on the God (or god) you are serving! If my hope for the future is in some retirement fund or bank account (neither of which is wrong itself), my life is only as good as the market. And how good is that right now? Living that way and trusting in what I know will only take me so far.
Maybe you are not trusting in some market account, but there is still a temptation to trust in some "god" that cannot provide. For instance, placing all my hope in my own savvy or my own abilities is a pretty shallow existence. I am only as good as the God (or god) I serve. If I serve a god that cannot hear, see, know, or perceive, then that is exactly the life I will have!
On the other hand, I honestly do want to know, see, and perceive what God wants me to know, see, and perceive. And the truth is, I can! I can if I am serving the right God. So whom are you serving this morning? To what (or whom) are you looking? Truly, you are only as able as the God (or god) you serve. Is that good news or bad news for you?
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