Stick gods
Jeremiah 10: No matter how fancy the sticks, they’re still sticks.
Jeremiah’s comparing handmade idols with God Almighty. He says they’re like scarecrows in cabbage patches, homemade and lifeless. He says some craftsman might fancy up the wood; carving and sanding and painting. When he’s finished though, a stick is still a stick and a stick is no God. I’ve heard that household idols are making a comeback among some groups even my country. By and large though, such things are considered weird. Of course, that doesn’t let us off the hook here. In the broadest sense an idol is that which comes between me and the Lord, especially that which demands my time and money and loyalty. As I read this passage with that more general definition in mind lots of things begin to fit in. Relationships, possessions, pleasures, and position all can make “god-like” demands on me. The old time prophet reminds me today that those things are also stick gods and mustn’t be allowed to rise above their actual worth in life. If a modern day “Jeremiah” followed me around today, what parts of my life might he condemn as “stick gods?”
Take Away: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”