October 18

“How foolish are those who manufacture idols to be their gods. Their delectable things shall not profit.” — Isa 44:9

“Delectable things,” are the things in which they took delight, that is, their idols. They bestowed honor upon them, prayed to them, looked to them as gods. But these delectable things could do nothing for them.

We have it all in the old psalm: “For our God is in the heavens, and he does as he wishes. Their idols are merely things of silver and gold, shaped by human hands. They cannot talk, though they have mouths, or see, though they have eyes! They cannot hear with their ears, or smell with their noses, or feel with their hands, or walk with their feet, or utter sounds with their throats! And those who make them are just like them, as are all who trust in them.” Psalm 115:3-8

These idols could give no comfort in sorrow, no strength in weakness, no deliverance in danger. Suppose you were an idol-worshiper, and had in your house a beautiful ‘god of gold’. Then suppose there was death in your family, or some other trouble, in which you needed help that no human friend could give you; what could your idol do for you?

No better than these idols, are other worldly trusts which men have, their money, for instance. Suppose there is sorrow in a home of wealth, filled with works of art and with fine furniture, and without Christ; what comfort can these ‘delectable things’ give?