Contemplative Bible Reading

Jeremiah 10:5 (New Living Translation)

5 Their gods are like
helpless scarecrows in a cucumber field!
They cannot speak,
and they need to be carried because they cannot walk.
Do not be afraid of such gods,
for they can neither harm you nor do you any good.”

God is talking to the people through the prophet Jeremiah. This is a familiar talk—stay away from gods that the people around them worship. Those gods are like helpless scarecrows trying to keep birds from eating the cucumbers.

I know a little bit about growing cucumbers as we had plenty of them in our vegetable garden in south Louisiana when I was in high school and college. Cucumbers come from a vine that spreads along the ground. The unpicked cucumbers lie in the open on the ground. It is easy for birds to eat the cucumbers.

The scarecrow? A scarecrow looks like a person, a living thing. The scarecrow, however, is just a stick with come clothing hung on it.

My closets are full of sticks with clothing hung on them. Worship the clothes hanging in my closet? Silly. Worship clothes hung on a stick out in a field? Are you kidding? Still, that is what God’s people were doing. If they weren’t worshiping these scarecrows, they were afraid of the scarecrows.

Boy, those folks back in ancient times were silly. Not wise and smart like folks today. Right? Wrong. We still fear things that are nothing. We still awe things that are nothing. We still flop about in failure. Please God, forgive my foolishness and fear of scarecrows. Please help me in my unbelief. And thank you God for your patience and love.