UGH, YOU WILL SAY
Today's reading: Isaiah 29-31

"Then you will destroy all your silver idols and gold images. You will throw them out like filthy rags. Ugh! you will say to them. Begone!" Isaiah 30:22 NLT

Until our manufactured gods let us down one final humiliating time, we'll not push them aside.

We won't hear someone tell us to put them away.

We won't listen while the preacher warns us against having them.

We won't recognize our idols as such until they leave us stranded, high and dry.

It's a lesson learned personally. Sad, but true.

Oh, sure, it's easy to spot idols in the lives of our friends and loved ones. They stand out--they're easy to spot. But seeing our own? Recognizing our own gods? Not an easy task. Not something any of us are good at doing--or want to do.

It's only when our idols leave us wounded. Infected. Desperate. Helpless. Face-to-face with what it was we had been depending upon that we truly realize where our hope had been.

That's when we wash our hands of what it was we had been holding on to. That's when we throw away our idols. That's when we ditch our little gods and cling to the One True God with both hands!