Inspired by Psalm 135
“The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but they do not speak; they have eyes, but they do not see; they have ears, but they do not hear, and there is no breath in their mouths. Those who make them and all who trust them shall become like them.” Psalm 135:15-18
We like to believe that we control our own destinies, and to a certain extent, we do. We celebrate the fact that we make our own decisions and live according to our own values, but we often forget or ignore the fact that we make those decisions and determine those values in a context, and not in a vacuum. Every decision we make and every value we cherish was influenced by something else.
What is your primary influence? Is it the prevailing culture, with its emphasis on self—self-fulfillment, self-aggrandizement, and selfish accumulation of material possessions? Such idols cannot advise us, guide us, or help us. The more we focus on them, the more they reflect ourselves back to us, and we become frozen in an endless cycle of stagnation, never looking beyond ourselves and hindered by our own limited imaginations. We become part of the environment that influences others, with no real advice, guidance, or help for them beyond more stagnation, and the cycle continues.
Or we can focus on the God who is, who was, and who will be, the God who created the universe and everything in it, the God who is limitless in his vision, his imagination, and his possibilities. Only when we worship the God of all and allow him to be the primary influence on our decisions and values can we truly live to our potential as human beings and fulfill our destinies.
Let us pray. Lord of all, you desire a better life for us than we could ever fashion on our own. Help us to turn toward you, that the idols of the world will have no power to limit or destroy us. Through Christ our Lord, Amen.
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