This is a part of the Command blog series where we’re talking about how the Ten Commandments aren’t just a dusty set of tablets with dumb rules . . . by a long shot!
You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
This verse is one of those greatly debated topics. Some people claim that this verse means we aren’t allowed to make art (or art of certain kinds), but we’re not going to go there today.
Thankfully, we are allowed to create. It’s okay if we use our hands a paint to create a landscape of mountains. One of my favorite Fun Bible Facts is that the first person filled by the Holy Spirit was an artist (Bezalel, Exodus 31).
What this command is getting at is that we shouldn’t make these things to worship them.
Now, while we may not create a sculpture of a rock and bow down to it after we get home from piano lessons, I think there’s a bigger application here. How many times do we worship the works of our hands? Maybe that’s a piano piece you’re performing, a task you won an award for, or even simple things like baking a cake and being overly proud of your ability.
The fact is, we worship the works of our hands all the time. The things we’ve made and accomplished (and even who we are) draw us closer and closer to themselves until we’re on our knees before them.
Fact is, we can’t do anything without God. He’s the one who allows us to move our hands at any second. He’s given us all our abilities and talents.
I like the way the NIV interprets Isaiah 26:2—”Lord, you establish peace for us; all that we have accomplished you have done for us.”
I used to be very proud of my knack for being empathetic. My ability to feel peoples’ tears before they even cried felt like a superpower and I definitely was way too proud of that aspect. It led me to falsely (and proudly) believe I could read right through anybody. Well . . . long story short, God showed me I was terribly wrong.
Often times I can get way too proud that I have various skill sets. I’m a “Jill-of-all-trades” I guess. But without God, I couldn’t even be good at one measly thing like taking peanut butter out of the pantry. (Is that really a skill?? Let’s not go there, of course it is.)
What mountainous feats are you bowing down to? What “sun” is the light of your life? What stolen waters are you satisfying yourself with? Make great work to point to a greater God.
