We moved into our new house before any mirrors were installed. Not having a mirror isn’t a problem for me because I have no hair to worry about. That wasn’t the case for my wife—she couldn’t wait for the new mirrors to be in place.
Even for me, mirrors are important. You know the bald man jokes: the hair that stops growing on our heads seems to grow quickly from our ears. Mirrors help us see and correct problems that would otherwise go unnoticed.
Reading the Bible is like holding up our lives to a mirror, according to James 1:23-24. God’s Word reveals the world through His perspective.
Like unsightly hair growing from the ears of a bald man, the mirror of God’s Word points out how foolish it is for us to trust substitutes for Him.
To whom, then, will you liken God,
or what likeness compare with him?
An idol? A workman casts it,
and a goldsmith overlays it with gold
and casts for it silver chains.
As a gift one chooses mulberry wood
—wood that will not rot—
then seeks out a skilled artisan
to set up an image that will not topple. (Isaiah 40:18-20)
All of our substitutes for a trusting relationship with God have similar characteristics.
(1) They are human creations:
Whether the idols of Isaiah’s day were expensive and overlaid with gold or wooden creations that tended to topple, they were human constructs.
In 1651, Thomas Hobbes wrote a famous political piece, Leviathan, in which he described money as the “blood” of the Leviathan body politic, circulating to sustain the organism. Hobbes argued that the Leviathan was needed for the full functioning of society.
In 2019, Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson developed the Leviathan concept more fully and applied it to modern society. They contended that a “shackled” Leviathan—independent central banks, rule of law in property rights, predictable monetary policy—was needed for a successful nation.
The whole idea of money as “Leviathan” may seem strange and confusing in a devotional blog, but stay with me for a moment.
Having read their book, I agree with Acemoglu and Robinson that a shackled Leviathan is needed. The alternatives look like Afghanistan, North Korea, Russia, and the like.
That being said, the point is that money and monetary systems are human creations. Like the biblical Leviathan, they are poor substitutes for God.
Let’s not forget that the Leviathan of the Bible may be extremely powerful, but it is also the symbol of chaos and hostility to God’s purposes. It is the ultimate enemy of God and will be defeated in the end.
When we look in the mirror of God’s Word, we need to reckon with this fact: “No one can serve two masters, for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth” (Matthew 6:24).
Money, this created instrument of humans, may be a good servant. However, money makes a very poor master.
(2) They are used by humans in an attempt to control our destiny:
There are more human substitutes for God than money. All substitutes are an attempt to prevent problems or enhance pleasures.
When we don’t think God has our best interests in mind, we turn to the gods of our own making. I frequently cite Richard Foster, who wrote about three major idols of American culture in his book, Money, Sex, and Power.
I don’t know of an exhaustive study of these three pursuits, but I can only guess that more Americans think about Foster’s “big three” idols more than they read their Bibles and pray.
My suspicion is that the majority of our fellow citizens don’t believe God can throw a good party. To get what we want, we must “grab all the gusto we can.”
Followers of Jesus need to look in the mirror of God’s Word as often as they check their makeup or see if hair is growing from their ears. As we do, the Spirit will reveal the idols of our hearts and help us see the world from God’s perspective.
A Heavenly Perspective of the World
The mirror of God’s Word not only reveals the fallacy of trusting idols; it also humbles us before a magnificent God.
Have you not known? Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,
and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers,
who stretches out the heavens like a curtain
and spreads them like a tent to live in,
who brings princes to naught
and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing. (Isaiah 40:21-23)
Several years ago, I was driving my truck to officiate a wedding in Kansas. A grasshopper rode all the way with me, clinging to the windshield. While driving, I talked to God about my little companion.
I marveled at God’s creation, so simple and overlooked. The greatest scientist is not able to create an insect like this, but God created them with nothing more than a word—the expression of His will.
We are like grasshoppers in the presence of God’s creative power. Even rulers and princes are nothing before Him.
The mirror of God’s Word reminds us that the Person to whom we address our prayers is the Creator of all.
I’m writing these words on Good Friday, 2025. On this day, we remember that the Son of God suffered and died on a harsh cross for humanity.
Yes, we may be as small as grasshoppers, but to God we are His beloved children. We are worth the sacrifice Jesus made to forgive and redeem us.
Good Friday and Easter Sunday reveal what is most important in life. Rather than manipulating human-made idols to give us what we want, we are called to live in self-giving love. As we love like Jesus, we trust the Father to work in us for His glory and our good.
YouTube Discussion
Rudy Ross, Bruce Kirby, and I discussed this passage on YouTube today.
Real Voices 