When We Worship Our Art
Isaiah tells a fascinating story of how a divided heart can taint our gifting.
The tale begins simply enough. A woodsman plants various trees in the forest, nurtures them, and, at the right time, chops one down for the raw material.
He uses part of the wood to warm himself and bake his bread. His God-given gifting and skill have provided him a way to stay warm and be nourished. As Isaiah says:
He cuts down cedars, he selects the cypress and the oak, he plants the ash in the forest to be nourished by the rain. And after his care, he uses part of the wood to make a fire to warm himself and bake his bread…” (Isaiah 44:14-15 TLB)
So far, so good. But then the artisan does something shocking. He takes the rest of the wood and begins to carve an idol for himself.
“…and then—he really does—he takes the rest of it and makes himself a god—a god for men to worship! An idol to fall down before and praise! (44:15)
He’s no longer creating with God. He’s trying to create his own personal god.
Part of the tree he burns to roast his meat and to keep him warm and fed and well content, and with what’s left he makes his god: a carved idol! He falls down before it and worships it and prays to it. “Deliver me,” he says. “You are my god!” (44:16-17)
Notice it’s the same person. Using the same gifting. On the same piece of wood. The only difference is, once he’s well fed and warm, he turns his back on the Creator and places his hopes in his creation.
We tend to think we’re way too sophisticated for idols today. That’s a lie. An idol is anything we give our hearts to in our search of life or success. We do this when we:
worship our creativity more than our Creator
spend more time studying our craft than getting to know the One who gave us our gifting
look to the work of our hands, rather than to God, as the source that will deliver us.
We see these toxic traits play out in the sobering tale of the woodsman. It’s what happens when our heart is divided, partially focused on God…and partially focused on making life work through our gifting.
I’ll give Isaiah the last word:
Such stupidity and ignorance! God has shut their eyes so that they cannot see and closed their minds from understanding. The man never stops to think or figure out, “Why, it’s just a block of wood! I’ve burned it for heat and used it to bake my bread and roast my meat. How can the rest of it be a god? Should I fall down before a chunk of wood?” The poor, deluded fool feeds on ashes; he is trusting what can never give him any help at all. Yet he cannot bring himself to ask, “Is this thing, this idol that I’m holding in my hand, a lie?” (Isaiah 44:18-20)
Want more? Order your copy of Waves of Creativity today!
