All That Is Breathless

Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”
Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.
Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands.
They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see.
They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell.
They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk;
and they do not make a sound in their throat.
Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.

-- Psalm 115:2-8

Yesterday's post touched on the idea of identification, and, so, it seems, does today's.  This time we are warned to beware of a dark side as we inexorably become like the object of our worship.  Putting our faith and trust in something or someone triggers our innate identification process.  The family is where this starts, and, assuming one's family is fairly healthy, that's positive, especially if the parents are godly people whose own loyalties point the children toward the God who is Good. 

It's pretty easy to translate the heathen idols of stone and wood, images plated with gold and silver to modern digital images, to icons of power, fame, prestige and wealth.  The pagan priests of old called on worshipers to placate their lifeless gods with offerings in order to end plagues, bring rains, or gain favor.  Our modern priesthood demands we buy their goods that we might find favor in the digitally-enhanced eyes of airbrushed gods and goddesses. 

The consequences are still the same, too.  The man who makes gold his god loses his will and his sovereign, individual purpose.  He becomes but as a coin himself — a counter, a cipher within the system.  Those who worship power may, for a time, gain power over others, but eventually they are enslaved, reduced to useless heat — empty, depleted batteries fit only to be tossed aside.  Those who worship the famous become as two-dimensional, vapid, superficial, and valueless as the forms they idolize. 

The idolaters dismiss the Living God.  They see no image.  They hear no voice.  Golden calves are easier to perceive, not to mention a lot less demanding.  How hard is it to be worthless?  

The psalmist points up to the transcendent One who is not just beyond perceiving but beyond naming.  He is there, on the other side of that cloud of unknowing, doing that which He pleases. But make no mistake, God has not abandoned the earth:  The heavens are the LORD's heavens, but the earth he has given to the children of man (v. 16).  We are His agents, created from the first in His image and likeness.  When we turn back to Him as our God, we become like Him so that His will is done on earth as it is in heaven.