Isaiah 46:1

Isaiah 46:1 says, Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth, their idols were upon the beasts, and upon the cattle: your carriages were heavy loaden; they are a burden to the weary beast.  Isaiah said that the people of Judah were carrying idols that weighed down their carriages.  There are different thoughts about who Bel and Nebo were, but they were false gods and could not harm or help anyone.  Matthew Henry says that after they were brought down from their places on high, the gold that was used to make them is what weighed the carriages down.  I do know that since they could not move themselves, that if they had to be moved, it was a burden to those who moved them.  Any idol that we worship today will only be a burden to us and can never help us.

Verse two adds, They stoop, they bow down together; they could not deliver the burden, but themselves are gone into captivity.  These two idols, like all idols, were not a help to those who worshipped them but a burden.  No idol will ever be able to help anyone, but they can certainly be a burden to those who worship them.  If nothing else, they stand between people and the only God that there is, Who will never be dependent on anyone to move Him from place to place.  He is the God Who can move everything. 

Verse three continues, Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, which are borne by me from the belly, which are carried from the womb:  God called on the people of Judah and the remnant of the people of Israel to remember that He was the One Who had called them to serve Him.  They had entered into a covenant relationship with Him, and He had never failed in His part of the covenant.  Now, He was calling on them to return to their part of the covenant.  If there is ever a time when we as followers of Christ are separated from Him, it will be because we have failed to live faithfully to our covenant with Jesus Christ, and He will always call on us to remember it and return to Him. 

Verse four concludes, And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.  God said that even when they got old and grey, that he would still carry them.  Once we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord, He will never forsake us, no matter how old we get.  Even beyond that, when we die, we are still spiritually His forever.  He created us and He will keep us safe forever if we have accepted His gift of salvation.  He will always carry and deliver us spiritually.