How to Make An Idol

In describing the process of idol-making, God reveals the senselessness of it all...

Isaiah 44:14 He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the oak, which he strengtheneth for himself among the trees of the forest: he planteth an ash, and the rain doth nourish it.

Here the man looks through the forest for a tree to use in fashioning an idol. Perhaps he even plants a certain tree and waits for it to grow. Pretty silly to select the material for your god... sounds a lot like going to the teddy bear factory and assembling your own teddy bear. When we consider that God the Creator created the stuff that we're using for our false little gods, it sounds even more silly.

Isaiah 44:15 Then shall it be for a man to burn: for he will take thereof, and warm himself; yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread; yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto.

Once the tree (which the true Creator God created) is grown, it stands there ready and waiting to be used as man pleases. What kind of god waits to be used as man pleases???

Isaiah 44:16-17 He burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is satisfied: yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire: And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image: he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god.

So the man finally cuts down his tree, burns part in the fire, roasts his dinner with it, warms himself in front of it, and enjoys watching the fire consume the tree he chose for his god. Then he uses what he didn't burn up to make a god, which he submissively bows down to and asks for deliverance. How absurd! The tree had no power to preserve its life from the man; the tree had no power to object to being burned with fire; the tree had no power to form itself into a graven image. But now, the man is asking the god he made from the powerless tree, to unleash its power and deliver him!

Isaiah 44:18-19 They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand. And none considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh, and eaten it: and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? shall I fall down to the stock of a tree?

And yet it never occurs to the idol-making, idol-worshipping man that his god is nothing but a powerless piece of wood, the stock of a tree.

Isaiah 44:20 He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?

This is the deception of idolatry to be completely and totally immersed in a lie.