The devil allows you to get comfortable, then all of a sudden he’ll strike you down.”
–D.C. Adkisson (Return From Tincup)
“Remember the great terrors the Lord your God sent against them. You saw it all with your own eyes! And remember the miraculous signs and wonders, and the strong hand and powerful arm with which he brought you out of Egypt. The Lord your God will use this same power against all the people you fear.”
–Deuteronomy 7:19 (NLT)
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I would urge you to read Isaiah 44:9-20 this morning. These verses show the foolishness, the stupidity of idols. Look at verses 9 and 10: “Those who make an image, all of them are useless, and their precious things shall not profit; they are their own witnesses; that neither see nor know, that they may be ashamed. Who would form a god or mold an image that profits him nothing?” (NKJV) The answer – only a fool. The CEB translates verse 9 this way: “Idol-makers are all as nothing; their playthings do no good. Their promoters neither see nor know anything, so they ought to be ashamed.” If these people would take the time to look at what they were doing logically they would be ashamed of their foolishness. The NKJV Study Bible states regarding this, “When all people come face to face with God, it will be a day of shame for those who rejected Him in this life.”
This is not just for the day of Isaiah. There are plenty of idols in our world today, and I’m not speaking of ju-ju, voodoo, or Hinduism. People worship their cars,, their fishing poles, their phones and music-boxes. Some have made idols of entertainers and athletes making them, in their mind, almost super little gods. Isaiah continues in verse 15, “Then it shall be for a man to burn, for he will take some of it and warm himself; yes, he kindles it and bakes bread; indeed he makes a god and worships it; he makes it a carved image, and falls down to it.” (NKJV) Using the same wood for the idol with which he warms himself and cooks over he falls down and worships it. Hmmm, worship an entertainer who is found dead by drug overdose or suicide–what kind of god is that? Isaiah continues to look at the foolishness in verse 17, “And the rest of it he makes into a god, his carved image. He falls down before it and worships it, prays to it and says, ‘Deliver me, for you are my god!'” (NKJV) Madness, in fact God says if they want to act the fool and believe that way, so be it. He will allow them to do as they wish, “They do not know nor understand; for He has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, and their hearts so that they cannot understand.” (44:18, NKJV) God allows them to go their own way, do their own thing.
Now turn your attention to the action of Jesus found in John 8:6. “…But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.” (NKJV) We don’t know what He wrote but there was the power of conviction as he wrote with His finger. Chad Bird writes, “With all of who He is, down to His very finger-tips, the Lord is creating, teaching, and redeeming.” Why didn’t He speak to them; why did He use just the tip of His finger to bring conviction? Ponder that.
In Exodus, chapter 8, we see the Pharaoh’s magicians competing with the God of Moses. It was after the third plague of lice. The magicians could not match the God of might and power. They tried to conjure up lice but they failed. Turning to Pharaoh, they proclaimed to him, “Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, ‘This is the finger of God.'” (8:19, NKJV). Just His finger brought forth the plagues. What will happen when he turns loose His wrath? Will He just use His finger?
Look at the power in God’s fingers! Psalm 8:3 states, “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained.” (NKJV) The next time you look up at the sky at night and behold the stars or gaze into the heavens, think that it was done just by God’s fingers. No wonder David expressed, “What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him?… O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth!” (8:4, 9, NKJV)
Here is a little experiment for you to try. Find a rock or just use the sidewalk, and with just your finger write your name etching it deep into the rock. Is there trouble with the engraving? Maybe scrap a little skin off the tip of your finger? We see this in Exodus 31:18, “And when He had made an end of speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.” (NKJV)
The strength, the power of His finger. Now imagine the grip of His hand–the one in which He holds you and me firmly. No one, no being can remove us from the grip. Think of Him reaching down when you’re down in the mire, the pit, the slough and know that His grip is sure. He will not release you. If there is power in His finger what is the power of His hand? Add to that the strength of His arms! WOW! Why do we then fear as we go through life? We have a heavenly Father who is there to take care of us; to fight off the bullies of the demonic forces. Know that He is there, with a strong arm and a firm grip.
(thanks to Chad Bird for stirring up my thoughts regarding the “finger of God”).
————————————-
I would urge you to read Isaiah 44:9-20 this morning. These verses show the foolishness, the stupidity of idols. Look at verses 9 and 10: “Those who make an image, all of them are useless, and their precious things shall not profit; they are their own witnesses; that neither see nor know, that they may be ashamed. Who would form a god or mold an image that profits him nothing?” (NKJV) The answer – only a fool. The CEB translates verse 9 this way: “Idol-makers are all as nothing; their playthings do no good. Their promoters neither see nor know anything, so they ought to be ashamed.” If these people would take the time to look at what they were doing logically they would be ashamed of their foolishness. The NKJV Study Bible states regarding this, “When all people come face to face with God, it will be a day of shame for those who rejected Him in this life.”
This is not just for the day of Isaiah. There are plenty of idols in our world today, and I’m not speaking of ju-ju, voodoo, or Hinduism. People worship their cars,, their fishing poles, their phones and music-boxes. Some have made idols of entertainers and athletes making them, in their mind, almost super little gods. Isaiah continues in verse 15, “Then it shall be for a man to burn, for he will take some of it and warm himself; yes, he kindles it and bakes bread; indeed he makes a god and worships it; he makes it a carved image, and falls down to it.” (NKJV) Using the same wood for the idol with which he warms himself and cooks over he falls down and worships it. Hmmm, worship an entertainer who is found dead by drug overdose or suicide–what kind of god is that? Isaiah continues to look at the foolishness in verse 17, “And the rest of it he makes into a god, his carved image. He falls down before it and worships it, prays to it and says, ‘Deliver me, for you are my god!'” (NKJV) Madness, in fact God says if they want to act the fool and believe that way, so be it. He will allow them to do as they wish, “They do not know nor understand; for He has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, and their hearts so that they cannot understand.” (44:18, NKJV) God allows them to go their own way, do their own thing.
Now turn your attention to the action of Jesus found in John 8:6. “…But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.” (NKJV) We don’t know what He wrote but there was the power of conviction as he wrote with His finger. Chad Bird writes, “With all of who He is, down to His very finger-tips, the Lord is creating, teaching, and redeeming.” Why didn’t He speak to them; why did He use just the tip of His finger to bring conviction? Ponder that.
In Exodus, chapter 8, we see the Pharaoh’s magicians competing with the God of Moses. It was after the third plague of lice. The magicians could not match the God of might and power. They tried to conjure up lice but they failed. Turning to Pharaoh, they proclaimed to him, “Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, ‘This is the finger of God.'” (8:19, NKJV). Just His finger brought forth the plagues. What will happen when he turns loose His wrath? Will He just use His finger?
Look at the power in God’s fingers! Psalm 8:3 states, “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained.” (NKJV) The next time you look up at the sky at night and behold the stars or gaze into the heavens, think that it was done just by God’s fingers. No wonder David expressed, “What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him?… O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth!” (8:4, 9, NKJV)
Here is a little experiment for you to try. Find a rock or just use the sidewalk, and with just your finger write your name etching it deep into the rock. Is there trouble with the engraving? Maybe scrap a little skin off the tip of your finger? We see this in Exodus 31:18, “And when He had made an end of speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.” (NKJV)
The strength, the power of His finger. Now imagine the grip of His hand–the one in which He holds you and me firmly. No one, no being can remove us from the grip. Think of Him reaching down when you’re down in the mire, the pit, the slough and know that His grip is sure. He will not release you. If there is power in His finger what is the power of His hand? Add to that the strength of His arms! WOW! Why do we then fear as we go through life? We have a heavenly Father who is there to take care of us; to fight off the bullies of the demonic forces. Know that He is there, with a strong arm and a firm grip.
(thanks to Chad Bird for stirring up my thoughts regarding the “finger of God”).