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meditations for an everyday relationship with Jesus
Teacher of lies
Habakkuk 2:18-19 What use is a carved idol after its craftsman carves it?
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It is [only] a cast image, a teacher of lies. For the one who crafts its shape trusts in it and makes idols that cannot speak. Woe to him who says to wood: Wake up! or to mute stone: Come alive! Can it teach?
Look! It may be plated with gold and silver, yet there is no breath in it at all.
I am convinced that we all trust in the idols we have created more readily than trusting in idols made by others. It makes sense that what we invest in we take stock in; we expect dividends. The more it costs the more it is worth the more we expect from it. That is the working theory.
But do we expect something more than we should from inanimate objects, even if we have created them? Can a thing save us or comfort us? Isn’t wood and metal, rock and fiber, cold without spirit and speechless without the very breath of God?
Does this mean that we have to actually carve an idol for it to be important to us? A thing, which is not God, is merely a teacher of lies and a shape which is full of darkness. What thing captures your eye and your heart?
the voice God gave me
What can man do?
Hebrews 13:5-6 Your life should be free from the love of money. Be satisfied with what you have, for He Himself has said, I will never leave you or forsake you. Therefore, we may boldly say: The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?
He will never leave or forsake us and He asks only that we trust Him and put our faith in Him and our hopelessness on Him.
Paul says that the grace of God (Jesus on the cross and resurrected) overcomes weakness, insult, catastrophes, persecutions and pressures. And yes, it overcomes physical and spiritual death.
Be strong; find hope in Jesus Christ. Practice being hopeful with other believers, in your safe gathering places … and then when you are called, go out and practice this hope born of grace on the world around you. Remember, Jesus has already overcome the world!
