God, idols and powerless prayers

(To facilitate reading, Scripture references are provided following the text.)

Reading through Jeremiah, I  wrote a few pages of thoughts on God vs. idols. God is real, true, powerful, awesome and majestic (and the list goes on), while idols are man-made, powerless, false, fake (and the list goes on). God made the earth by His power, wisdom, and understanding, while idols can do no harm nor any good. Israel had continually forsaken the Spring of Living Water, and built their own broken cisterns that could not hold water (idols).

Lord, forgive us that so many of our prayers are petty, self-serving, demanding, vengeful, shallow, prideful, yet powerless, much like the Pharisees’ prayer (Luke 18:9-14). Such prayers accomplish nothing, like placing a band-aid on a severed artery or limb. They do not stop the bleeding of our sinful nature and attempts to assuage our corrupted conscience by telling ourselves we are better than we are.

Yet these powerless prayers with no expectations are worse than the idolaters’ prayers - they expected their gods to answer though they had no record of such a thing ever happening. Their gods could do no harm nor any good, since they were made by human hands. Men make idols in their image as a part of the corruption of the original deception: You will be like God (Genesis 3:4). But the corruption is far worse: God will be like you, which eventually becomes, “You are [a ] god”. We deify ourselves and our race, and often our nations. We seek power, life, immortality, and fame ... socially, politically, religiously, ... But praying to an idol we crafted in our image is simply self-talk. The idol has no power to do harm nor good.

There is only one God, who created and sustains everything that is by His powerful word, Who wrought salvation and redemption for us because we could not save or redeem ourselves, Who loves us and desires our lives, Who promises life, both now and in eternity, who worked marvelous deeds on behalf of His people. So, why do we pray as if God is powerless? Forgive us, Lord, for our lack of faith.

May 2009

Psalms 115:2-8; 135:15-18; Isaiah 40, 44:6-23; Jeremiah  2:13; 10:5; John 4:14; 7:37-38; Acts 17:29