Isaiah 44:1-16: a reflection

1Yet listen now, Jacob my servant, and Israel, whom I have chosen. 2This is what the LORD who made you, and formed you from the womb, who will help you says: “Don’t be afraid, Jacob my servant; and you, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. 3For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and streams on the dry ground. I will pour my Spirit on your descendants, and my blessing on your offspring; 4and they will spring up among the grass, as willows by the watercourses. 5One will say, ‘I am the LORD’s.’ Another will be called by the name of Jacob; and another will write with his hand ‘to the LORD,’ and honor the name of Israel.” 6This is what the LORD, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the LORD of Armies, says: “I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no God. 7Who is like me? Who will call, and will declare it, and set it in order for me, since I established the ancient people? Let them declare the things that are coming, and that will happen. 8Don’t fear, neither be afraid. Haven’t I declared it to you long ago, and shown it? You are my witnesses. Is there a God besides me? Indeed, there is not. I don’t know any other Rock.” 9Everyone who makes a carved image is vain. The things that they delight in will not profit. Their own witnesses don’t see, nor know, that they may be disappointed. 10Who has fashioned a god, or molds an image that is profitable for nothing? 11Behold, all his fellows will be disappointed; and the workmen are mere men. Let them all be gathered together. Let them stand up. They will fear. They will be put to shame together. 12The blacksmith takes an ax, works in the coals, fashions it with hammers, and works it with his strong arm. He is hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water, and is faint. 13The carpenter stretches out a line. He marks it out with a pencil. He shapes it with planes. He marks it out with compasses, and shapes it like the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to reside in a house. 14He cuts down cedars for himself, and takes the cypress and the oak, and strengthens for himself one among the trees of the forest. He plants a cypress tree, and the rain nourishes it. 15Then it will be for a man to burn; and he takes some of it and warms himself. Yes, he burns it and bakes bread. Yes, he makes a god and worships it; he makes it a carved image, and falls down to it. 16He burns part of it in the fire. With part of it, he eats meat. He roasts a roast and is satisfied. Yes, he warms himself and says, “Aha! I am warm. I have seen the fire.”

In a passage that moves from God's promise to bless his people to a sharp exposure of the folly of idolatry, Isaiah paints a vivid picture of the absurdity of worshiping what we ourselves have made. He describes a man who takes a piece of wood, burns half of it to warm himself and bake his bread, and then takes the other half and fashions it into a god, falls down before it, and prays to it, Deliver me, for you are my god. The same wood that serves as firewood is made into an object of worship; the man bows down to what he made with his own hands from a tree he cut down. The folly is exposed: to worship the work of our own hands, to bow before what we have made, is absurd, for what we make is not greater than we are and cannot save us. To worship what we have made rather than the God who made us is a folly Isaiah lays bare. What our hands fashion cannot deliver us; only the God who made us can. The absurdity of idolatry is worshiping the work of our own hands.

Notice the folly Isaiah exposes: worshiping what we ourselves have made. The man uses half his wood for fire and makes the other half into a god; he bows before a thing he shaped with his own hands, and asks it to save him. The absurdity is plain: what we make cannot be greater than we are, cannot see or hear or save; to worship it is folly. Yet this is what idolatry is: trusting and worshiping the work of our own hands, whether wood and stone or the more subtle idols we fashion, the things we make and then look to for security or meaning as though they could deliver us. But nothing we make can save us; only the God who made us can. Isaiah's picture of the man bowing to firewood is a mirror held up to all idolatry, all trusting in what we have made rather than in our Maker. What our hands fashion, whatever it is, cannot bear the weight of our worship or trust; it cannot save. Only the God who made us is worthy of worship and able to save. To bow before what we have made is to trust what cannot deliver. Our Maker, not our making, is worthy of worship.

That is worth taking to heart, for it is folly to worship or trust what we have made, rather than the God who made us. We can trust and even worship the work of our own hands, whether obvious idols or the more subtle things we make and look to for security and meaning as though they could save us; but Isaiah exposes the absurdity of bowing before what we ourselves have fashioned, which cannot see or hear or deliver. Nothing we make can save us; only the God who made us can. Do not trust or worship the work of your own hands, which cannot deliver you; worship and trust the God who made you. Worship and trust the God who made you rather than the work of your own hands, which cannot deliver you, as Isaiah exposes the folly of the man who burns half his wood for fire and bows before the other half as a god, praying, Deliver me; for it is absurd to worship what we ourselves have made, which is not greater than we are and cannot see or hear or save, and only the God who made us is worthy of our worship and able to deliver us, so that to trust the work of our hands, whatever idol we fashion, is to lean on what cannot save, while our Maker alone can.

Lord, in a passage that moves from your promise to bless your people to a sharp exposure of the folly of idolatry, Isaiah paints a vivid picture of the absurdity of worshiping what we ourselves have made. He describes a man who takes a piece of wood, burns half of it to warm himself and bake his bread, and then takes the other half and fashions it into a god, falls down before it, and prays to it, Deliver me, for you are my god. The same wood that serves as firewood is made into an object of worship. The folly is exposed: to worship the work of our own hands is absurd, for what we make cannot save us. Show me the folly Isaiah exposes: worshiping what we ourselves have made. The man uses half his wood for fire and makes the other half into a god; he bows before a thing he shaped with his own hands. The absurdity is plain: what we make cannot see or hear or save; to worship it is folly. Yet this is what idolatry is: trusting and worshiping the work of our own hands, whether wood and stone or the more subtle idols we fashion, the things we look to for security or meaning as though they could deliver us. But nothing we make can save us; only you, who made us, can. Take that to my heart, for it is folly to worship or trust what I have made, rather than you who made me. I can trust and even worship the work of my own hands, whether obvious idols or the more subtle things I look to for security; but Isaiah exposes the absurdity of bowing before what I myself have fashioned. Nothing I make can save me; only you can. Keep me from trusting or worshiping the work of my own hands, which cannot deliver me, Lord; help me worship and trust you, who made me and alone are able to save, rather than any idol I might fashion.