Where is their God?
Where is their God?
Psalms 115:1-8 - We become like what we worship
“Offering to Molech,” from Bible Pictures and What They Teach Us by Charles Foster, 1897 (photo: Public Domain)
“Why do the nations say, “Where is their God?” Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him. But their idols are silver and gold, made by human hands. They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see. They have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but cannot smell. They have hands, but cannot feel, feet, but 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.”
Psalms 115:2-8 NIV
Today’s verses from the Book of Psalms begin with a question that the Jewish faithful heard from followers of pagan religions of their time. These verses are part of the Hallel psalms, which were sung by the Jews during Passover celebrations. This means that Jesus and the disciples probably intoned these very verses during the Last Supper.
When these verses were first written, there were a number of false religions. There was worship of Asherah, a fertility goddess who was the consort of Ba’al, a god also associated with fertility. The Jebusites, Amorites, and Moloch worshippers favored child sacrifice, and later on, Mithraism, Isis worship, and the Greek and Roman pantheon of gods appeared.
For all of these religions, idols were worshipped as the “real thing”, and to really wow the crowds, those idols weren’t just wooden poles (although the Asherah worshippers were impressed…) — instead, a carved or cast idol made of or coated with gold or silver was placed on an altar and worshipped. If you were well off, you may have even had your own “god” or two in your home so you didn’t have to venture out into the hinterlands for worship. Of course, with these gods being so available, you might want to cover all of your spiritual bases by worshipping more than one!
The idol worshippers must have scratched their heads in confusion at these people who followed Yahweh, as there was no idol to bow down to or make sacrifices to. That’s where today’s verses come in, contrasting the idols of the heathens with the one true God.
Charles Spurgeon1 made a comment on the first verse:
It was very natural that the heathen should say, ‘Where is their God?’ because they had no outward emblem, no visible image, no tangible token; whereas the heathen had their gods many, such as they were, made of wood and stone; so that they asked, ‘Where is their God?’
The answer? Our God, the Creator of the Universe and the God of Jews and Christians alike, is in heaven. Spurgeon says He is:
Where he should be; above the reach of mortal sneers, over-hearing all the vain janglings of men, but looking down with silent scorn upon the makers of the babel.
At this point, the psalmist begins to point out the absolute folly of worshiping idols made by human hands. Many of these idols were made with human attributes — mouths, eyes (often made with precious jewels), ears, noses, hands, feet, and throats — but the idols were lifeless! The idolaters were placing their trust and worship in something that was man-made, actually below mankind.
Spurgeon said of some of the idol attributes:
Eyes - Certain idols have had jewels in their eyes more precious than a king’s ransom, but they were as blind as the rest of the fraternity. A god who has eyes, and cannot see, is a blind deity; and blindness is a calamity, and not an attribute of godhead. He must be very blind who worships a blind god: we pity a blind man, it is strange to worship a blind image.
Nose - In sacred scorn he mocks at those who burn sweet spices, and fill their temples with clouds of smoke, all offered to an image whose nose cannot perceive the perfume.
Feet - The [smallest] insect has more power of [movement] than the greatest heathen god
It’s no wonder that the psalmist ends with a statement condemning those who made and worshipped idols. David Guzik says in Enduring Word:
Those who make them are like them: The psalmist understood that when men worship things beneath them, it brings them lower. They begin to lose the strength of their own ability to perceive and interact with the world. All who make or all who trust in idols will have this as their destiny, and false gods draw men down, never up.
i. Those who make them are like them is virtually a spiritual law: we become like what we worship. When we worship the true God who reigns in righteousness, the God perfectly revealed in Jesus Christ, we become like Him. When we worship false and vain idols, we become like them.
Today’s idols aren’t made of silver or gold; instead, they are often celebrities or even worse, political ideals. Child sacrifice is still going on under the name of abortion, something that is idolized in certain sectors of our society and indicative of a larger societal issue — the worship of self. This comes in various denominations; the need for self-actualization, the need to identify one’s self as one of 107 different genders instead of one of the two actual human genders, the huge self-care and self-improvement industries, and the constant call for self-indulgence.
God, through the psalmist, made it plain to us that we need to worship Him alone. Why is it that much of humankind still doesn’t understand that?
Heaven On Wheels Daily Prayer:
Father in Heaven, we come before You with hearts filled with gratitude and awe. Unlike the idols made by human minds and hands, You are the living God who hears our prayers and knows our every need. This psalm serves as a reminder that those who trust in idols become lifeless and powerless like them. Putting our trust in You, our Creator, breathes life into us and guides us with Your wisdom. May Your name be glorified in all the earth, as You are the source of our strength and salvation. AMEN.
Scripture quotations taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica US, Inc.®. Used by permission.
Commentary quotations from Enduring Word are used with the written permission of the author
Spurgeon, Charles Haddon "The Treasury of David: Volume 3" (Psalms 111-150) (Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson, 1988)