The Folly of Idolatry

I hope everyone had a blessed day of Thanks yesterday, and that you got to enjoy time with family and friends.

Today I start into the 10th Chapter of Jeremiah. Verses 1 - 16 speak of the folly of idolatry, but I'm only going to cover verses 1 - 5 today.
"Hear what the Lord says to you, O house of Israel. This is what the Lord says: ' Do not learn the ways of the nations, or be terrified by signs in the sky, though the nations are terrified by them.

For the customs of the people are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel. They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter.

Like a scarecrow in a melon patch, their idols cannot speak; they must be carried because they cannot walk.

Do not fear them; they can do no harm nor can they do any good'".



We will see over the next few verses, how there is a threefold contrast (1) Heathen worship attached great importance to the sun, moon and stars, though God is the one who made the heavens (2) man-made idols have to be stabilized, but God even controls the nations (3) idols are senseless, without intellectual capacity, because they are inanimate, but the living God designed and created all things.

These signs mentioned in verse 2 could be a reference to things such as eclipses, comets or conjunction of planets.

I encourage you to read Romans Chapter 1: 18 - 32, where Paul covers the depths of the sin that man has and will continue to fall to, and the consequences of it. The verse that goes right along with today's verses from Jeremiah, is verse 25 - "They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator - who is forever praised, Amen".

I think you will find in reading Paul's writing, that you will see many things that he wrote about in about 57-58 AD, that we see even more so today. These things are regarding the acts of society that once were looked on as the sin that they truly are, but are now looked on as "normal" and acceptable by our politcally correct world.

I pray that your knowledge of our Lord, and the truth of his word, would penetrate your heart today.

Janelle