Materialism

Isaiah 2:6For you have rejected your
people, the house of Jacob,because they are full of things(I)
from the east and(J)
of fortune-tellers(K)
like the Philistines, and they(L)
strike hands with the children of foreigners.7Their land is(M)
filled with silver and gold, and there is no end to their
treasures;their land is(N)
filled with horses, and there is no end to their
chariots.8Their land is(O)
filled with idols; they bow down to(P)
the work of their hands, to what their own fingers have made.

I feel rather guilty for my warehouse of dreams. One of the benefits of looking for a new apartment is observing other people's arrangements. Walk into a tightly packed and organized studio, and one might guess the tenant to be a shrewd haggling dealing man. Find a large flat screen TV with neo-modern sofas that break your spine, and the owner is likely a high powered executive. Still across the board, the larger the volume of items found in an apt, it is assumed a larger income.

For all the things in our household, what do we have ot show? I remember the Piper quote well, "at the end of your life, do you want to go to God and say ' look at my shell collection God! Look at my Golf swing! Or do you want to be known for something more?"

And look how Isaiah speaks of israel:
"they are full of things from the east"
I don't know exactly what that means, but if we look at the following list, we can get a good feeling for what he is talking about. Silver, God, "no end to their treasures", horses, chariots, idols. And in short, it is all summarized by this one line:

"their land is filled with idols; they bow down to the work of their hands,"
I believe some of this meaning may not translate to us, the beneficiaries of a market economy. It seems that most of the items we obtain or get are made for us by some factory in a far off land. Back then many things are hand made. Other riches are pillaged or captured from conquering other countries. The spoils of hard work were much more tangible.

Perhaps an exercise will help. Though we don't make or conquer our treasures, we work for them. If you, kind reader, have a job, or a occupation, or a specialty which you are compensated for, what is your heart's desire? What object is at the forefront of your eyes, and in the sensitive part of your ear? When work's gears grind you to despair, what image keeps you toiling? Is it another shiny object? Is it a person? Is it your house? Is it your future? Then consider then, are we bowing ourselves before idols? That we press on for some fancy car, or fancy toy? Perhaps that we endure all things for a secure future on this earth?