026 JUNE 2026
Those Who Make Them Become Like Them
What your soul trusts will eventually shape who you become
By Shikha, S.C.M.A. Communications Director
There is a sentence hidden inside Psalms 115 that feels almost unsettling once you truly understand it. “Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.”
At first, the Psalm is talking about idols. Silver and gold. Objects shaped by human hands. Things people created, then bowed before.
The Psalmist almost describes them with sadness: “They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see; they have ears, but cannot hear…”
They look alive. But there is no breath in them. And maybe that is why this Psalm still speaks so powerfully today, because idols never really disappeared. They just changed form. Now they look like success. Platforms. Validation. Relationships. Productivity. Control. Image. The constant need to be wanted, admired, chosen, needed.
Things we quietly depend on to tell us who we are. And the frightening thing about idols is that they rarely look evil in the beginning. Most idols begin as good things we slowly give too much power to.
A dream becomes an identity. A relationship becomes survival. Achievement becomes worth. Attention becomes oxygen. Until without realizing it, we stop simply having these things… and start bowing to them emotionally.
That is why this verse feels so heavy: “Those who make them become like them.” You become what you worship. Not instantly. Slowly.
If your life revolves around approval, eventually your peace becomes dependent on people’s opinions. If your heart worships success, rest begins to feel guilty. If appearance becomes your altar, you start exhausting yourself trying to stay beautiful enough, impressive enough, enough enough.
And the tragedy is this: The things we worship outside of God can never fully hold the weight of our souls. Because idols always take more than they give. That relationship cannot heal every wound inside you. That achievement cannot remove loneliness. That attention cannot silence insecurity for long. That money cannot sit beside you during heartbreak. That image cannot comfort you when life falls apart privately.
They have mouths, but they cannot speak life into you. Eyes, but they cannot truly see you. Ears, but they cannot hear your silent prayers at night. And yet we keep returning to them hoping this time they will save us.
Maybe that is why so many people feel emotionally tired all the time. Not just because life is hard, but because we are carrying gods that were never alive to begin with. And the terrifying part is that eventually, we begin resembling the very things we worship.
Empty things create emptiness. Cold things create coldness. Temporary things create unstable hearts. The Psalm does not just warn us about idols because God is controlling or insecure.
It warns us because God understands something we often forget: Whatever captures your deepest trust eventually shapes your entire being.
Then suddenly, in the middle of all this, the tone of the Psalm changes. “Trust in the Lord, He is their help and shield.”
The contrast is beautiful. Idols are lifeless. God is living. Idols consume. God sustains. Idols demand performance. God offers presence. And maybe that is what makes the God of Scripture so different from everything else we chase.
He is not asking to become another burden on your shoulders. He is asking to become the place where your weary soul can finally rest. Because unlike every other thing we worship, God can actually carry the weight we place on Him.
Your fears do not overwhelm Him. Your questions do not intimidate Him. Your brokenness does not exhaust Him. He is alive enough to respond.
Close enough to hear. Strong enough to hold you together when everything else begins falling apart.
And maybe that is the real invitation of Psalms 115. To stop giving eternal parts of yourself to temporary things. To stop asking empty things to fill sacred spaces inside your heart. To stop bowing before things that cannot love you back.
Because in the end, every person becomes shaped by whatever they trust the most. So the question is not whether you worship something.
The question is: What is your soul becoming because of it?