"There, in heaven, is our GOD;
whatever HE wishes, HE does.
Not so, the hand-made idols,
crafted in silver and gold.
They have mouths that cannot speak,
eyes that cannot see,
ears that cannot hear,
noses that cannot smell.
They have hands but cannot feel;
feet, but cannot walk;
neither can they make a sound in their throat.
Their makers will be like them;
so will all who trust in them.
O Israel, trust in YAHWEH;
HE is your help and your shield!
You, family of Aaron, trust in YAHWEH;
HE is your help and your shield!
- Psalm 115:3-4. 5-6. 7-8. 9-10
(This is a psalm of trust. Our GOD is in heaven and has created the earth. Your gods are on earth, but they are nothing, as the seven negatives of verses 5-7 describe. Our GOD created and made us in HIS own image and likeness [Genesis 1:26].
We must constantly denounce the idols of ordinary people, as well as the idols of those who pretend to be free of every prejudice. Here is a thought of the poet, Paul Claudel: "Blessed are YOU, O my GOD, who freed me from all the idols and who made me adore YOU alone, and not Isis or Osiris, or Justice, Progress, Truth, Divinity, Humanity, the Laws of Nature, of Art or of Beauty. And who has not permitted these things to exist, things that are not, or are the vacuum left by YOUR absence. I know that YOU are not the GOD of the dead, but of the living. LORD, I have found YOU! The one who finds YOU no longer tolerates death."
"I believe in GOD, though I do not see HIM," a Jewish man wrote in the ghetto of Warsaw. In times that are hostile to faith, it is good for us to pray with this psalm.)
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