Idolatry makes sense; it just doesn't work

As a child, listening to my mother read Bible stories, I would see paintings of the Israelites prostrating themselves before idols, and I just couldn’t understand why the people were forever running after other gods. It just didn’t make sense.

Now, though, I understand why people fall into idolatry. I’m not arguing in favor of it, of course; I’m just saying that I understand why, even today, many people worship idols.

The Elvis factor

Christianity Today reported years ago that some Elvis Presley fans were revering the king of rock and roll as a god. Pockets of semi-organized Elvis worship had taken hold in the U.S.A. In New York, Colorado, and Indiana, worshipers were raising their hands and chanting Presley’s name and working themselves into a fervor, praying to the deceased star. They believed that Elvis watched over them. If someone reported seeing Presley, the high priests at the Church of the Risen Elvis in Denver held Elvis worship services. They enshrined a look-alike doll of Elvis in an altar surrounded by candles and flowers.

Robbie Williams is a British pop singer who, it is said, told BBC Radio in 2001 that he prays to Elvis, asking for his oversight while the band performs. I understand that he even has a tattoo of a prayer to Elvis.

Sure, most of us would never do something so brazen as that. But idolatry can come in much more subtle forms.

Celebrity worship

A woman entered the Haagen-Dazs store on the Kansas City Plaza for an ice-cream cone. She looked over the selections and made her choice.

While waiting for her ice cream, she suddenly found herself face to face with movie star Paul Newman, who was in town filming the movie Mr. & Mrs. Bridge. She was staring into those steely blue eyes. Newman smiled and said Hello. Her knees quivered! She did manage to pay for her ice-cream cone and leave the shop, heart pounding. Outside, after regaining composure, she realized that she had forgotten her ice cream! So she started back into the store only to meet Newman at the door.

“Are you looking for your ice cream?” he asked.

She nodded, still unable to speak.

“You put it in your purse with your change.”

My point? Be careful, because idolatry can sneak up on you. It may not be Elvis or Paul Newman, but there just may be somebody out there that would cause you to stuff your ice cream into your pocket.

Meeting needs

As I said, I understand why people worship idols. It’s because people have needs and they believe that idols can fulfill them. Idolatry comes along and says, “I can meet those needs. I can take care of your needs.

Do you need excitement in your life? Come, and I’ll find excitement for you. Do you need to be noticed, to be loved, to be valued, to be accepted, to find purpose? Come. I will meet your needs.” No wonder so many people turn in that direction. If idolatry promises to meet such needs, then turning to it makes great sense.

It’s just a pity it doesn’t work.

Said the psalmist about the idols of the nations around Israel:

But their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but they cannot see; they have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but they cannot smell; they have hands, but cannot feel, feet, but they cannot walk; nor can they utter a sound with their throats. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them (Ps. 115:4–8, NIV).

What’s he saying? He’s talking about their idols, their gods that—unlike the God of Israel, who is invisible, whom they can’t see—they can see. Indeed, their idols have hands and feet and ears and mouths. They have all of the equipment to be able to do something about the human plight. In light of that, I can understand why the people turned to the idols. They thought that these idols could fulfi ll their needs and desires better than could a God whom they weren’t able to see.

Have you watched TV advertisements lately? Advertisers are experts at telling you your needs, your legitimate needs, things like your need for permanence or for belonging or for acceptance or for love or to be valued, and then promising you how their product will satisfy that need.

Are you lonely? Do you need connection? Then AT&T will help you to “Reach out and touch someone.” Do you question your value? Then use L’Oreal. L’Oreal says: “Because I’m worth it.” Do you long to be something more than you currently are? Then join the U.S. Army and “Be all you can be.” Do you want to stand out in the crowd? Then watch CNN International, and “Be the first to know.” Do you desire freedom? Then watch Showtime. Its tag line is, “No Limits!” Do you want something you can depend on, someone who’s always with you even in an emergency? Then remember American Express, and “Don’t leave home without it.” Do you want to experience the ultimate in life? Then drive BMW, because it is “The ultimate driving machine.” Notice—it’s not even a car; it’s “a driving machine”!

The psalmist said, “Their idols have ears, but they can’t hear your cries for love; they have eyes, but they can’t see your needs for acceptance; they have feet, but they can’t walk by your side; they have hands, but they can’t hold you when you’re lonely. They promise so much, but they just don’t deliver.”

Idolatry makes sense; it just doesn’t work.

Hideyoshi, a Japanese warlord who ruled in Japan in the late 1500s, commissioned the building of a colossal statue of his god. Then he had it set up in a shrine in Kyoto. It took thousands of men five years to build it, but it was finally complete, and his god had a home. But the work had scarcely been completed when an earthquake brought the roof of the shrine crashing down on the statue. The statue was greatly damaged. It is said that in a rage, Hideyoshi shot an arrow at the fallen colossus, and shouted at it: “I put you here at great expense, and you can’t even look after your own temple!”

Idolatry makes sense. It makes sense because it promises to meet our deepest needs. No wonder people turn to it. But it just doesn’t work.

Extreme makeover

Now, if such is the case with idols—and this psalm says it is—then the question is obvious, why did they continue with idols? And, by the same token, why do we?

Preacher and author Craig Barnes, in speaking to other ministers, said something to this effect: Many of the people to whom we preach each week are terrified by the idea that they are who they are. In other words, many of us are terrified that things are not going to change; that our situation is not going to get any better. “This is who I am. And it’s not going to get any better. My marriage is as good as it’ll ever be. The house I live in is the best one I’ll ever own. The salary I make is the most I’ll ever earn. And my body? Well, it’s downhill from here on out!”

And, says Barnes, this is a particularly terrifying idea in a culture like ours where we are constantly longing for something more. Sufficient evidence of that is our fascination—some would say obsession—with transformation and being made over.

Extreme Makeover.¹ Sound familiar? “Make me something more than what I am. Make me more beautiful, more shapely, younger, more wealthy, give me a nicer house and a newer car”—and the list goes on.

In a society like ours, idols make absolute sense. Why? Because they promise such things. They promisethat you will be younger and more beautiful and more wealthy and more likeable. But the reality is, when it’s all over and done, you are still the same person you were before.

The truth is, there is a God-given way to satisfy the legitimate desires of our hearts. The problem with idols is that we turn to something that promises to fulfill such needs and yet cannot do so. We have, for example, a desire for permanence built into us. And there is such a thing as heaven to satisfy that desire. And yet, when we become idolatrous, we turn to idols like frenetic exercise and plastic surgery in the hopes that we will somehow, because of them, be able to achieve a certain sense of permanence. And yet, it never works, does it?

So what do we do?

The blessings of the Lord

O house of Israel, trust in the LORD— he is their help and shield. O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD— he is their help and shield. You who fear him, trust in the LORD— he is their help and shield. The LORD remembers us and will bless us: He will bless the house of Israel, he will bless the house of Aaron, he will bless those who fear the LORD— small and great alike. May the LORD make you increase, both you and your children. May you be blessed by the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. The highest heavens belong to the LORD, but the earth he has given to man. It is not the dead who praise the LORD, those who go down to silence; it is we who extol the LORD, both now and forevermore. Praise the LORD (Ps. 115:9–18, NIV).

What’s happening here is that when the psalmist is fi nished talking about the idols of the nations around them—and the fact that they will never be able to meet the needs of those who worship them—he turns to the Lord. Three times he calls upon the people to trust in the Lord. Time and again he tells them to trust in God and they will be blessed.

Do you know what it’s like to be blessed, to be blessed by God? The psalmist says, If you place your trust in the Lord, you will be blessed by Him. In other words, if you place your trust in Him, the deepest needs of your heart will find their satisfaction in His blessing.

Do you yearn for love? Jesus said, “For God so loved the world. . . ” Do you long to rest? Jesus said, “Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” Do you crave acceptance? Jesus said, “The one who comes to Me I will never reject.” Do you yearn for permanence? Jesus said, “Whosoever believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.” Do you want to be valued? John said, “Beloved, consider what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we might be called the children of God.”

The bottom line simply is: Even your most treasured idol can’t deliver what you ultimately need. But God can.

The ultimate

Years ago, the Dallas Cowboys² had a player named Duane Thomas, a tremendously gifted athlete who became known as “the Silent Storm” because of his refusal to talk to coaches and other players. He just receded into himself, quiet, stoic, silent.

The Cowboys made the Super Bowl that year, and a large part of the media circus swirled around Thomas and his unwillingness to engage with other people. It was during that week that one of the sports writers asked him a question that finally drew an answer. “Duane,” he asked, “how do you feel about playing in the ultimate game?”

“If it’s the ultimate game,” he answered, “why are they playing it again next year?”

It’s a good question to ask about any idol that may tempt you. It’s a question which probes the very substance and significance of what we sometimes worship. If it’s the ultimate car or the ultimate house or the ultimate job or the ultimate product, then why do we continue to pursue more and better and younger and richer? If it’s the ultimate, shouldn’t it ultimately satisfy us?

Idolatry makes sense because it promises so much. Pity that it doesn’t work. So maybe it’s time to try something that doesn’t make near as much sense, at least not to the world around us. Maybe it’s time to try worshiping a God you can’t see, because He will fulfill the deepest desires and needs of your soul in ways that all the gods you can see never will.