NOTES for Isa 44:1-28

It is not difficult to renounce outright idolatry once it has been condemned, but it is much harder to stop worshipping things of the created world that are not statues of pagan gods yet become idols in essence, from household appliances and cosmetics, whose moderate use is not sinful, to all-consuming “lofty principles,” in which a fragment of the truth takes the place of its fullness. The fullness of the world is inaccessible to us, and so we constantly risk mistaking our own limitations for wisdom and ultimate truth. More dangerously still, we may succumb to the temptation of attributing the conclusions of our limited reason to the One whose mind is unfathomable. In that case, however much we assure ourselves and others that we believe in the one God, our mental constructs become equivalent to idols made by human hands.

But trust in the Creator can not only save us from the conceit that distorts our perception of reality; it also opens us to hearing His voice, which reveals new horizons and possibilities.