"Do not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by signs in the sky,
though the nations are terrified by them.
For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest,
and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel.
They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter.
Like a scarecrow in a melon patch, their idols cannot speak;
they must be carried because they cannot walk.
Do not fear them; they can do no harm nor can they do any good."
No one is like you, O LORD; you are great, and your name is mighty in power. (Jeremiah 10:1-6)
There is a poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley called Ozymandias. In it, a traveler comes across some huge feet with broken legs. It was evident that at one time this was a massive statue. Near them is an arrogant-looking face on a broken head. At the base of the feet there was a plaque. It read:
“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look upon my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
Nothing else of the statue or the king that the statue was supposed to represent, nor his empire was still there. There was nothing but desert and sand.
The poem was about a guy who decided to make a memorial to himself and to his great kingdom. What he didn’t count on was that he would die and his kingdom would be gone and his statue broken up. No one remembered him. All that was left was a silly broken-up statue in the middle of a desert.
It is silly putting all your trust in what you yourself have done. If you can build it, it can’t be all that permanent.
Just recently, we have had a stock market downturn. A lot of people who had their stock portfolio built up for retirement lost a significant amount of the money they had laid by. What they had worked so hard for was half gone.
And sad as it may be, that happens. Anything you build can fall apart. There is no permanence in what you can do.
We are a great nation. In spite of the direction we seem to be going, I believe we will endure. For a while. Not forever. After all, we are a man-built nation. When it comes down to it, only the people of God and his ways will last forever. No nation, no corporation, no heritage formed by people will remain.
Anything we put up as permanent is like that idol. They cut the tree, they shape it, they decorate it, they put a base on it s it won’t fall and carry it into the special place they built for it. Then they fall down and worship it. Jeremiah says to not fear it. It cannot do anything.
Only God is eternal. Only his ways are forever.
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