Jeremiah 10:1-16: God or Idols?
A GARDEN CATALOG offers inflatable owls and fake falcons to scare away small birds from your fruit trees. For best effect, the catalog says, keep moving them around. Even the dumbest bird knows that a real owl or hawk doesn't sit frozen in the same spot day after day. Like those garden fakes, the idols of the nations surrounding Israel were lifeless and powerless.
Warming Up to God
What has been an idol to you, and how did you come to reject it and choose the Lord?
Read Jeremiah 10:1-16. »
Discovering the Word
- Throughout this passage how is God contrasted with idols?
- How do idols betray their powerlessness (v. 5)?
- Why should people revere the Lord (vv. 6-7, 10, 12-13)?
- What will be the fate of false gods (vv. 11, 15)?
- How is the Lord's power shown in his creation (vv. 12-13, 16)?
Applying the Word
- How can the humorous images in this passage, especially verses 4-5, give you a fresh perspective on the idols that tempt you?
- In what ways is the Lord superior to your most appealing idols?
Responding in Prayer
Praise the Lord for being the only true God. Commit yourself again to worshiping him alone.
For Further Study
Graven Ideologies by Bruce Ellis Benson