They have mouths, but cannot speak. (Ps. 115:5)
In the movie Lars and the Real Girl¸ Lars longs for a relationship, but he’s painfully shy. So he purchases a life-size doll. His intentions in this are actually pure. He just wants someone to talk to and do things with. Lars’s small town at first thinks it strange that he treats the doll as real, but they love Lars and play along. This works for a while. By the end, though, it’s clear. The doll cannot speak or hear or act. Lars needs a real relationship.
The psalmist in Psalm 115 laments that the world looks at believers and wonders, “Where is their God?” They content themselves with gods that cannot hear, speak, see, or act. We as believers have a God who is real. He loves us and cares for us and protects us. Those who follow the world’s idols will become as “unreal” as the gods they serve. But we will become like ours, full of love and life.
And yet, we often turn to things that are mere illusions of what God is. We are invited into real relationship but look away from it for satisfaction. As we come together we can cast aside those things that look like what we want but aren’t. And we can remember the One who died so we might have real relationship with Him. He is real and not a man-made substitute.
Thank God today that He is real and alive, and that you can know Him.
Diane Gardner lives in the San Francisco Bay area, where she enjoys theater, community events, and watching the sun set over the bay.
