Eyes but no sight

 To start, it's been a long time since I've blogged. We just moved across the state, and I have a six-month-old --- that's about all the explanation that's needed!

However, I've been trying to continue digging into God's Word and that always makes me think of things to write. Writing also helps me process what I've been reading.

Today's devotional encouraged reading Psalm 115. In the passage, David (I'm assuming David wrote this one) talked about idols.

"Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouth, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell. They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat. Those who make them become like them..." (Psalm 115: 4-8).

When I look at the messy world around me, I often see people who don't know God and think, "Why can't they see the truth? It's so obvious!"

Verse 8 says "Those who make them become like them." Obviously, the election is on my mind, so I thought in frames of that. If someone is making hatred of Donald Trump his or her idol, what he or she focuses on, what rules his or her life --- they start to become like that idol. That hatred can't see, can't hear, can't smell. That means, that person can't see truth before them, can't hear what rational arguments. As obvious as I think something is, that person is so consumed with hatred that truth will not sink in.

If you dislike Donald  Trump and can't hear that way of framing this, think instead of someone who idolizes material goods. Say she loves expensive purses. It is what she thinks about, spends her money, prioritizes. Those purses can't see, can't hear, can't smell, can't move. When someone suggests that perhaps $1,000 might be better spent on say family time, food or electric bills, she can't hear the logic in that argument. She can't see that anything in life is better than getting the next great purse.

We have to be so careful not to let things around us become idols. Not only will we be focusing on the wrong things, but it can actually be hard to come back from because we will be so blinded, so deafened by the idol that we can't see or hear the logic to get out. We become like our idols --- useless, stagnant and ultimately worthless.

Instead, we should focus on things above, on Jesus and on his kingdom. If we become what we focus on, what we idolize, then focusing on God will make us righteous, set apart, of great value and able to make a difference. That sounds so much better than blind, deaf and stagnant.