Contemplative Bible Reading

Isaiah 44:16-19 (NIV)ß

16 Half of the wood he burns in the fire; over it he prepares his meal, he roasts his meat and eats his fill. He also warms himself and says, “Ah! I am warm; I see the fire.”

17 From the rest he makes a god, his idol; he bows down to it and worships. He prays to it and says, “Save me; you are my god.”

18 They know nothing, they understand nothing; their eyes are plastered over so they cannot see, and their minds closed so they cannot understand.

19 No one stops to think, no one has the knowledge or understanding to say, “Half of it I used for fuel; I even baked bread over its coals, I roasted meat and I ate. Shall I make a detestable thing from what is left? Shall I bow down to a block of wood?”

The above verses discuss the folly of making idols. The idol maker uses a piece of wood to make a fire and uses the rest of the piece of wood to make an idol that he worships.

The beginning of verse 19 struck me, “No one stops to think.”

I consider my self a thoughtful person. To a fault, I think about a situation before I do something. I have been able to see a situation and understand the absurdity of the things I do and I see other people doing. It is especially easy to see the folly in other people. Sometimes I can see my own inability to stop and think. Sometimes I even see this soon enough to stop myself.

Stop to think. I know what is right and wrong. I can see if my actions are right or wrong. I can see if I am worshiping part of a thing while using the rest of the same thing as junk.

After some discussion of this topic, a thought came to mind. When someone has a strong reaction to something, I think we have found an idol. Some examples, a person explodes in rage when

• someone tracks mud into their car
• someone touches their computer
• someone walks in front of the television when they are watching some program

Other examples should be easy to recall. I guess that means we have many idols.