Dear Church of the Open Bible,
There are poor choices and then there are poor choices. The former are choices that have little consequence, like your favourite brand of cheese or how you say “schedule.” The latter are choices that greatly affect your life and the lives of others. And perhaps the greatest choice each of us faces is who or what we will trust with our lives.
Jeremiah presents this choice starkly. He compares trusting in the true, living, and everlasting God, with the alternative option of trusting in idols, in created things.
Thus says the LORD:
“Learn not the way of the nations,
nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens
because the nations are dismayed at them,
for the customs of the peoples are vanity.
A tree from the forest is cut down
and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman.
They decorate it with silver and gold;
they fasten it with hammer and nails
so that it cannot move.
Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field,
and they cannot speak;
they have to be carried,
for they cannot walk.
Do not be afraid of them,
for they cannot do evil,
neither is it in them to do good.” - Jeremiah 10:2-5
I encourage you to continue reading the rest of the chapter, but the “way of the nations” is to serve creation rather than the Creator. It is to fear the heavens rather than the One who created them. We will see another example of the silliness of this choice as we look at 1 Samuel 5-6 this Sunday morning, but may we be reminded this week, not to exchange the glory of the immortal God for anything or anyone else. That’s the poorest of choices we can make.