Day 5
Thursday, December 1
Tim Leavitt
Psalm 115 contrasts the sovereignty of the real God (v. 3) with the impotence of man-made idols (v. 5-8), and warns us that “those who make [idols] become like them; so do all who trust in them” (v. 8). It makes me wonder: if I’m trying to do too many things at once, feeling disconnected, and having a harder time recharging than I used to, might I be spending too much time on my phone – and thus becoming like it? Probably! My phone is a chief idol and a portal to all sorts of things that vie for my attention and would themselves become idols – my work, entertainment, the approval of others, and unproductive worry about current events, to name a few. Idols of “silver and gold” may sound antiquated, but smartphones typically contain those and other rare, valuable metals. This modern idol can even speak, see, and hear (in a sense), but is still foolish to trust in or to emulate.
I want to focus my attention on Jesus instead, to trust him instead, and therefore to become like him instead. This trust, and our imitation, starts in Jesus’ humility and ends in Jesus’ victory. “Our God is in the heavens” (v. 3), but Jesus humbled himself and set that aside for our sake in the incarnation, even dying on a cross. Jesus’ resurrection deepens the God vs. idols contrast of Psalm 115: all idols are dead or dying, but Jesus is alive. “The dead”––who have become like their idols in the ultimate sense––“do not praise the Lord… But we will bless the Lord from this time forth and forevermore” (v. 17-18). What a wonderful hope we have of final, full freedom from sin and true life with God!
Tim has been attending Park Street Church for 10 years. He lives in Tewksbury with wife Sarah and son Josiah, and works as a software developer/manager. Tim initially came to Park Street because of a family connection––his grandparents were Park Street missionaries in the 1960s.