What’s in Your Hand? — Week 2
By Reverend J. Carla Northcutt, Ed.D., Marietta, Georgia

“Is there not a lie in my right hand?” (Isaiah 44:20).

One of Israel’s greatest sins was the sin of idolatry.  In their ups and downs of following God or of building their own idols, they returned time and time again to the forest where they cut down cedars, cypress and pine trees from which to fashion their idols.

He makes it a carved image and falls down to it.  He burns half of it in the fire; with this half . . . he roasts a roast, and is satisfied.  He even warms himself and says, ‘Ah!  I am warm. . . .’  And the rest of it he makes it into a god. . . .  He falls down before it and worships it, prays to it and says, ‘Deliver me, for you are my god.’

It would seem that the Israelites would learn their lesson.  God is going to punish them for their idolatry.  He will allow no other gods before Him.

And why do we think that is just a history lesson?  That was 3,000 years ago and that was just how God did things back then.  Dear Sister, I have news for you—God never changes.  He expects the same from His children today as He did in the time of Isaiah. 

We go just as far as the Israelites did when we carve our own gods to worship.  They may not be figures of cedar or cypress, but there are a thousand little things that we put on a pedestal and bow down to.  Whether it’s fame or fortune, carving out your place in the corporate world, striving to pay for a house you cannot afford in a neighborhood where neighbor eats neighbor, God is far from your mind.

You trust instead in those things made of paper and sand, things that twirl in the wind, things that make happy, tinkling little sounds; silk and leather, crystal and silver, the right color, the right weight, the right sparkling jewel.  You are satisfied with your prime rib and your Caesar salad.  You have left behind your first love and He faithfully calls to you.  Do not desert the Lover of your soul.  Do not let the god of this world blind you.  The apple is not good.  The pleasures of sin for a season are not pleasurable.  They carry too high a price.  Things of this world will pass away and the only thing left is the naked TRUTH.  When all else falls, He is still there—waiting for you to realize that it is a lie you hold in your right hand.  The lies of Satan will not feed you.  You cannot find your nourishment in the ashes of the cedar tree.  Only the Bread of Life can feed you.  Destroy the idols!!  Burn them!!  Do not let them into your life.  Make the conscious choice to say:  “This is a lie that I have in my right hand.  I tried to believe that it was something else, but it’s not.”

Forgive me, Lord, for building all these little idols in my life and not serving You.  You are my portion.  In You I will trust.  Amen. 

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