[This week I was reminded of these words written by J.I. Packer in 1958:<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the human mind is set up as the measure and test of truth, it will quickly substitute for man\u2019s incomprehensible Creator a comprehensible idol fashioned in man\u2019s own image; man wants a god he can manage and feel comfortable with and will inevitably invent one if allowed\u2026. Once people reverse the proper relationship between Scripture and their own thinking and start judging biblical statements about God by their private ideas about God, instead of vice versa, their knowledge of the Creator is in eminent danger of perishing.”<\/p>\n
I elaborated on these ideas in a September 2003 sermon on Habakkuk 2:18-20. Here is an edited, shortened version of that sermon \u2013 Coty]<\/p>\n
Imagine that you are two years old. If you haven\u2019t spent much time with two-year-olds, let me remind you of some characteristics of this age:<\/p>\n
With these reminders, now imagine that you are two years old. And imagine that you can choose whatever type of parent you want \u2013 a Designer Parent. What type of parent will you choose?<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s assume that as two-year-olds go, you are quite wise. So you identify that you need a parent who will provide food, shelter, and care.<\/p>\n
As a rare, wise two-year old, you also recognize that you don\u2019t know everything. You choose a parent who will be able to teach you.<\/p>\n
Third, you definitely want a parent you can trust \u2013 a reliable parent who will never let you down.<\/p>\n
So far this doesn\u2019t sound too bad, does it?<\/p>\n
But every two-year old would choose this fourth characteristic: You want a parent you can control. <\/em>You choose a parent who does what you <\/em>want. Yes, you do want a parent who can teach you facts \u2013 when and if you want to learn. But you don\u2019t want a parent who will control you, who will override your will.<\/p>\n What would be the outcome of allowing two-year-olds to design their parents?<\/p>\n Disaster would result.<\/p>\n But we live in a culture that encourages spiritual two-year olds to design their own gods. And when given that opportunity, most people act exactly like the physical two-year olds: they design a god who will work for their good, who can teach them something about the future, whom they can trust \u2013 but most of all, whom they can control.<\/p>\n But, friends, the God of the universe \u2013 the One and Only Living and True God \u2013 is not controllable! He promises to work for the good of His people, He is entirely trustworthy, He leads us into all truth \u2013 but our God does whatever HE pleases. He is not our genie, He is not at our beck and call \u2013 instead, He is sovereign, He rules over all.<\/p>\n The second chapter of Habakkuk addresses this issue. The chapter begins by contrasting the proud one with the righteous one who lives by faith. God then pronounces five woes on the proud one, in each case giving us an example of how not <\/em>to live by faith. The first four lessons are:<\/p>\n All these \u201cwoe\u2019s\u201d have a common structure: the proud one aims to fulfill a good, God-given desire, but he goes about pursuing that desire through evil means. God then issues an appropriate punishment, leading to a lesson about living by faith.<\/p>\n The fifth woe, Habakkuk 2:18-20, brings us to two-year-olds. We will first look at the proud one\u2019s goal and means, then his punishment, and finally the lessons for living by faith.<\/p>\n 18 “What profit is the idol when its maker has carved it, Or an image, a teacher of falsehood? For its maker trusts in his own handiwork When he fashions speechless idols. 19 “Woe to him who says to a piece of wood, ‘Awake!’ To a mute stone, ‘Arise!’ And that is your teacher? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, And there is no breath at all inside it. 20 “But the LORD is in His holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before Him.” (New American Standard)<\/p>\n The Goal: To Know the Unknowable, to Control the Uncontrollable; the Means: Idolatry\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n Why does the proud one want to have anything to do with an idol?<\/p>\n Because the proud one knows that some things are out of his control. <\/em>He thinks, \u201cDisease, natural calamity, or my revengeful opponents may be around any corner.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know what tomorrow might bring! I\u2019ve managed pretty well so far in accomplishing my objectives \u2013 but I need some additional power to ensure my position.\u201d<\/p>\n And so he turns to an idol. This is the means he uses to accomplish his purpose. What is an idol?<\/p>\n An idol is any person, power, or spirit that you rely on instead of God for satisfaction, security, accomplishment, and honor.<\/strong><\/p>\n Note: these are the goals of the first four woes! In effect, the proud one is relying on himself in pursuing those goals \u2013 thereby making an idol of himself. Here in the fifth woe, he realizes he needs some additional power to secure his position, and so he turns to a physical idol. But we commit idolatry whenever we rely on something other than God to meet these objectives.<\/p>\n What are the goals of the proud one in verses 18 and 19? There are four:<\/p>\n Do you see the inherent contradiction here?<\/p>\n In order to profit us in all circumstances, in order to be worthy of our trust, this \u201cgod\u201d must be all-powerful. <\/em><\/p>\n In order to be our teacher, this \u201cgod\u201d must know more <\/em>than us \u2013 particularly about the future, things unknowable to us. Indeed, if we are to trust him in all circumstances, he must be able to predict the future with complete accuracy.<\/p>\n Yet we want to control this \u201cgod\u201d! <\/em>Yet if we could control him, he would not be all powerful; if we could tell him how best to meet our needs, he would not be all knowing.<\/p>\n So the necessary conclusion: There are no gods like this. <\/em>\u00a0Indeed, there cannot be gods like this. We want an all-powerful god who is under our control. That is a logical impossibility.<\/p>\n Thus, the proud one aims to profit himself, to have a teacher for himself, to have someone to trust \u2013 all of these goals are God-given, and God Himself is the only answer for these desires.<\/p>\n Yet the proud one rejects the one living and true God, because that God is out of his control. So the proud one opts instead for a pseudo-god he can control, an idol.<\/p>\n The Punishment: Futility<\/strong><\/p>\n For the first four woes, God\u2019s punishments are logical and just: the plunderer is plundered, the house the proud one builds for security cries out against the builder, accomplishment disappears, honor turns to disgrace.<\/p>\n For this woe, there is a twist. God does not state an explicit punishment. Instead, the punishment is implicit. What is it?<\/p>\n Look at the terms used to describe the idol in verses 18 and 19:<\/p>\n So what is the proud one\u2019s punishment? If your teacher is speechless, if one in whom you trust has no breath, no spirit, then he also has no power \u2013 and thus you have no protection. In the end, relying on an idol is only relying on yourself. You will get no profit. As the Psalmist says,<\/p>\n Those who make them will become like them, Everyone who trusts in them. (Psalm 115:8)<\/p>\n Will become like them in what sense? Dead, powerless, helpless. This is the punishment. Futility.<\/p>\n Lessons for Living by Faith<\/strong><\/p>\n God gives us an explicit lesson in living by faith in Habakkuk 2:20:<\/p>\n But the LORD is in His holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before Him.<\/p>\n Do you see the contrasts between the true God and idols?<\/p>\n With these thoughts in mind, let us draw out two lessons for living by faith:<\/p>\n (1) Living by faith means we receive commands from God; we do not give him commands.<\/em><\/u><\/p>\n This is a hard lesson, isn\u2019t it? We so much want to be in control. We really do want that genie in the bottle. Like the two-year-old, we really think we know what is best for us and what is best for those we care for \u2013 and God doesn\u2019t seem to bring that about!<\/p>\n As Mr. and Mrs. Beaver explain to the Pevensie children in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe:<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cIs [Aslan]\u2014quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat you will, dearie, and no mistake,\u201d said Mrs. Beaver, \u201cif there\u2019s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they\u2019re either braver than most or else just silly.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThen he isn\u2019t safe?\u201d said Lucy.<\/p>\n \u201cSafe?\u201d said Mr. Beaver\u2026. \u201cWho said anything about safe? \u2018Course he isn\u2019t safe. But he\u2019s good. He\u2019s the King, I tell you.\u201d<\/p>\n Our God is not safe. Our God is not tame. Our God is not under our control. Our God does things that we cannot comprehend, that we cannot fathom. But our God is good. He works for the benefit of His people \u2013 so let us acknowledge that we are less than two-year-olds in our understanding compared to His; let us acknowledge that He knows infinitely more than us; and let us therefore bow before Him.<\/p>\n (2) Living by faith means relying on the God Who is with us.<\/em><\/u><\/p>\n The Lord is in His holy temple. (Habakkuk 2:20)<\/p>\n Where is that temple today?<\/p>\n Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? (1 Corinthians 3:16)<\/p>\n If this is true \u2013 then why rely on any idol? God is not only with<\/em> His people at the center of their country in a physical building \u2013 God Himself, Jesus Himself is in you! If you belong to Him, if you have repented and come to faith in Him, then you have the gift of God\u2019s Spirit as a down payment of all the blessings God will give you in the future.\u00a0 And Jesus lives in you.<\/p>\n So on whom should<\/em> you rely for satisfaction, security, accomplishment, and honor? The God who is in you! And if He is in you, if He loves you more than you can imagine, if He has already given you the gift of infinite cost \u2013 His own Son\u2019s death \u2013 then how will He not also along with Jesus freely give us all things?<\/p>\n As Isaiah says:<\/p>\n Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, “I am the LORD your God, who teaches you to profit, Who leads you in the way you should go. If only you had paid attention to My commandments! Then your well-being would have been like a river, And your righteousness like the waves of the sea.\u201d (Isaiah 48:17-18)<\/p>\n He is the one who teaches us<\/em>! He is the one who profits us<\/em>! Listening to Him<\/em> leads to well-being that flows and flows and flows like a river, that keeps breaking over us like waves at the beach! His love and goodness toward us never end. When God offers us His very presence within us \u2013 is it really too much for Him to ask for us to yield all control to Him? Is it really too much to ask that we value Jesus, love Jesus, put Jesus first in our hearts?<\/p>\n Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n So, my friends: Where do you place your trust during the tough times in life? To whom do you turn when<\/p>\n The world today offers you a zillion false gods. The world today offers you ways to discern the future, whether through horoscopes or economic forecasts. And many around us have set up such idols in their hearts. But none work. All in the end are the same as relying on yourself.<\/p>\n So do you trust the God of the universe?<\/p>\n Do you give yourself completely to the One Who gave His Son completely for you?<\/p>\n Do you trust in Jesus Christ and in Him alone – for salvation first, and then for all good things in your life: satisfaction, security, accomplishment, and honor?<\/p>\n Do you turn yourself over to His hands, saying, \u201cGod, I know I can\u2019t control you! I know I am less than a two-year-old before you. Your understanding, no one can fathom. So, Lord, I trust you; I believe you are indeed working all things together for the good of those who love you, even when that doesn\u2019t look to be the case. God! Make me yours completely!\u201d<\/p>\n So trust in God through Jesus Christ! And keep<\/em> trusting in Him, turning away from idols and false hopes! For trusting in God is a never-ending task. We must turn to him day by day by day by day by day, leaning not on ourselves but on God\u2019s goodness, power, and faithfulness.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Lord is in His holy temple \u2013 Be silent before Him, all the earth.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [This week I was reminded of these words written by J.I. 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