Coming into Thailand I already knew that the country was steeped in
Buddhism. It has been so deeply rooted in their culture for so many years. Everywhere
you go, you see temples, altars and spirit houses.
Jeremiah
10:2-16
This is what the Lord says:
“Do not act like the other
nations,
who try to read
their future in the stars.
Do not be afraid of their
predictions,
even though
other nations are terrified by them.
Their ways are futile and foolish.
They cut down a
tree, and a craftsman carves an idol.
They decorate it with gold and
silver
and then fasten
it securely with hammer and nails
so it won’t
fall over.
Their
gods are like
helpless scarecrows in a cucumber field!
They cannot speak,
and they need
to be carried because they cannot walk.
Do not be afraid of such gods,
for they can
neither harm you nor do you any good.”
Lord, there is no one like you!
For you are
great, and your name is full of power.
Who would not fear you, O King of nations?
That title belongs to you alone!
Among all the wise people of the
earth
and in all the
kingdoms of the world,
there is no one
like you.
People who worship idols are stupid and
foolish.
The things they
worship are made of wood!
They bring beaten sheets of silver
from Tarshish
and gold from
Uphaz,
and they give these materials to
skillful craftsmen
who make their
idols.
Then they dress these gods in royal
blue and purple robes
made by expert
tailors.
But the Lord is the only true God.
He is the living God and the everlasting King!
The whole earth trembles at his
anger.
The nations
cannot stand up to his wrath.
Say
this to those who worship other gods: “Your so-called gods, who did not
make the heavens and earth, will vanish from the earth and from under the
heavens.”
But God made the earth by his power,
and he
preserves it by his wisdom.
With his own understanding
he stretched
out the heavens.
When he speaks in the thunder,
the heavens
roar with rain.
He causes the clouds to rise over
the earth.
He sends the
lightning with the rain
and releases
the wind from his storehouses.
The whole human race is foolish and has
no knowledge!
The craftsmen
are disgraced by the idols they make,
for their carefully shaped works are
a fraud.
These idols have no breath or power.
Idols are worthless; they are
ridiculous lies!
On the day of
reckoning they will all be destroyed.
But the God of Israel is no idol!
He is the
Creator of everything that exists,
including Israel, his own special
possession.
The Lord of
Heaven’s Armies is his name!
God really convicted me that back home, most of my friends are
worshipping idols, but I’ve never told them about Jesus, the only true God. I’ve
let it pass that as long as we don’t talk about it, you can go on with what you
believe in and I will go on with what I believe in.
What really saddens me is when you see little children, because they don’t know any better, worshiping the idols too. They just follow along.
Isaiah
44:9-20
9 How foolish are those who
manufacture idols.
These prized
objects are really worthless.
The people who worship idols don’t
know this,
so they are all
put to shame.
10 Who but a fool would make his own god–
an idol that
cannot help him one bit?
11 All who worship idols will be
disgraced
along with all
these craftsmen-mere humans-
who
claim they can make a god.
They may all stand together,
but they will
stand in terror and shame.
12 The blacksmith stands at his
forge to make a sharp tool,
pounding and
shaping it with all his might.
His work makes him hungry and weak.
It makes him
thirsty and faint.
13 Then the wood-carver measures a
block of wood
and draws a
pattern on it.
He works with chisel and plane
and carves it
into a human figure.
He gives it human beauty
and puts it in
a little shrine.
14 He cuts down cedars;
he selects the
cypress and the oak;
he plants the pine in the forest
to be nourished
by the rain.
15 Then he uses part of the wood to
make a fire.
With it he
warms himself and bakes his bread.
Then-yes, it’s true-he takes the
rest of it
and makes
himself a god to worship!
He makes an idol
and bows down
in front of it!
16 He burns part of the tree to
roast his meat
and to keep
himself warm.
He says,
“Ah, that fire feels good.”
17 Then he takes what’s left
and makes his
god: a carved idol!
He falls down in front of it,
worshiping and
praying to it.
“Rescue me!” he says.
“You are
my god!”
18 Such stupidity and ignorance!
Their eyes are
closed, and they cannot see.
Their minds are
shut, and they cannot think.
19 The person who made the idol never stops to reflect,
“Why, it’s just a block of wood!
I
burned half of 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 bow down to worship a piece of wood?”
20
The poor, deluded fool feeds on ashes.
He trusts something that can’t help him at all.
Yet
he cannot bring himself to ask,
“Is this idol that I’m holding in my hand a
lie?”
Why do people worship a piece of wood that was meant to be burnt?
I’ve found that a lot of people don’t really know why they worship Buddha.
They do it because that’s what their families do, and their grandparents did before
them. It’s the ‘better be safe than sorry’ mentality. But oh, if they were to
reflect and see what they are worshipping, they will see that it is nothing but
a lifeless idol, something that cannot speak.
We visited Big Buddha one day. It’s a big huge buddha statue made of
marble, the biggest in the area or something, sitting on top of a hill
overlooking Phuket Town. But the ironic thing is, every person who walks up the
steps to the top of the hill will be mesmerized by the view first, the beauty
of God’s creation, before they even look at the big statue. Truly God’s
creation shouts out loud of God’s glory!
I’m sorry if you are offended by this blog post. No, scratch that, I am
not sorry. Because really there is only one true God, and that is Jesus. I pray
that if you don’t already know Him, you will seek out for yourself who He is,
and test and ask and see if He is truly who He says He is.
