One of the things I love most about writing— whether it be a blog post, an article, or a book— is the opportunity to zero in on a topic in Scripture. Sitting still with one subject for a period of time helps me grasp anew its depth and breadth. I see things I never noticed before. My faith is strengthened and I’m filled with wonder at the riches found in God’s word.
This was certainly true when I studied and prepared to write Idols of a Mother’s Heart. As I read and meditated on God’s word, I discovered just how much the Bible talks about idolatry. The narratives describe idolatry in the hearts of God’s people, the prophets speak out against it, and our Savior redeems us from it. Spending so much time focused on the topic opened my eyes to realize how quickly my own heart turns to lesser gods and that God alone gives me what I need and long for most.
Idolatry and Isaiah 46
Currently, I’m reading through Isaiah in my quiet time, a book in which the prophet repeatedly exhorts God’s people to turn from idolatry and back to God. When we read of their history, we see over and over how they turned from God to worship false gods. We see it in Exodus, when Moses was on the mountain to receive the law from God and they crafted an idol out of gold and worshiped it. We read accounts of king after king setting up altars to worship the gods of the nations around them. Then in Isaiah, God pronounced judgment against his people for their sin.
“For you have rejected your people, the house of Jacob, because they are full of things from the east and of fortune-tellers like the Philistines, and they strike hands with the children of foreigners. Their land is filled with silver and gold, and there is no end to their treasures; their land is filled with horses, and there is no end to their chariots. Their land is filled with idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their own fingers have made” (Isaiah 2:6-8).
In Isaiah 46, the prophet focuses in on the idols of Babylon. He describes them as helpless and weak. How foolish to trust in something that has no power!
“Bel bows down; Nebo stoops; their idols are on beasts and livestock; these things you carry are borne as burdens on weary beasts. They stoop; they bow down together; they cannot save the burden, but themselves go into captivity” (Isaiah 46:1-2).
Bel, meaning Lord, is another name for the Babylonian god, Marduk. Nebo is his son. The Babylonians held a yearly celebration honoring both Marduk and Nebo, where animals would carry the gods in a great procession. Isaiah mocks these gods who cannot carry themselves and predicts the day when God would punish Babylon and her gods with her. The same gods in which Babylon trusted and worshiped would not be able to protect them from the wrath of God. As it turned out, Babylon did fall and her idols with her. No one worships Marduk today.
Isaiah continues and contrasts Israel’s God with that of the Babylonian gods. While Marduk and Nebo could not carry themselves and required beasts of burden to take them from place to place, our God carries us: “even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save” (v.4).
What amazing grace! We turn from the true God to worship counterfeit gods, yet he promises to save and carry us. The Hebrew word for carry (nasa) in that verse is also used to mean to bear, to lift up, to forgive. In Christ, we find a Savior who carries our griefs and burdens, our guilt and sin (Isaiah 53). He is the scapegoat who takes our curse upon himself and carries it away.
The God Who Carries Us
Isiah then answers the question: Who is this God who carries his people? He first points out that no one can be compared with God (v.5), because every other god is created by human hands (v.6). They must carry it on their shoulders and set it up in its place where it cannot move (v.7). And “If one cries to it, it does not answer or save him from his trouble” (v.7).
Oh, how I need this reminder! All those things I trust in to make my life work, to make my life safe and comfortable, all those things I look to in the hopes they will make life better—they cannot save me. They only exist because I construct them and then put them in place. They cannot hear me. They cannot meet my needs. They cannot fulfill my longings. They cannot deliver me.
They cannot carry me.
The prophet then calls us to remember who God is, to fix it in our minds, and imprint it on our hearts:
“For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose’” (vv.9-10). God alone rules over all things. He is the one true God and there is none like him. He determines all that will happen and ensures his purposes come to fruition. Everything we trust in, every idol we worship, all the places we look to for life and hope have no power. Our idols will fail us. Like Dagon in 1 Samuel, all the idols of our heart fall down flat in the presence of the true God who made all things.
As I consider the idols I have crafted and set up on the throne of my heart to worship, this passage in Isaiah 46 reminds me of their weakness and helplessness; it reminds me they are worthless. Only God can deliver me from my idolatrous heart. Only he can set me free from my wayward ways. “I bring near my righteousness; it is not far off, and my salvation will not delay; I will put salvation in Zion, for Israel my glory” (46:13). The coming of Christ fulfills Isaiah’s prophecy. Our Savior stills our restless hearts, meets our deepest longings, and carries us out of darkness and into the light of righteousness.
Father, these past few months have revealed idols in my heart I did not realize were there. I thank you for your word which shines a light in the dark places, revealing things I need to see. Help me to see more and more just how weak and helpless these counterfeit gods are. Help me to uproot them and cast them away. In contrast, help me to see you in all your wonder, power, holiness, and grace. By your grace, continue to carry me. In Jesus’s name, amen.
