Praying to Worthless Idols

Today I looked over a number of pictures a friend sent me from a recent trip into East Asia. They were in a country that is filled with religious zealots of a particular world religion. Their apparent devotion was evident. They spent hours in ferverent prayer, reciting mantras as if their life depended on it. They prostrated themselves in worship of their gods. Others had devoted their life to spreading the teaching of their gods. Their devotion to their gods was unquestionable. I have no doubt of their commitment.
As I looked at these pictures I was overcome with a profound sadness for these people. They were praying with every fiber of their being to a god that could not hear them. They were worshiping a god that could not see them or act on their behalf. Their efforts were entirely in vain. It reminded me of the verse in Isaiah 45:20-22 - "Gather together and come; assemble, you fugitives from the nations. Ignorant are those who carry about idols of wood, who pray to gods that cannot save. Declare what is to be, present it-- let them take counsel together. Who foretold this long ago, who declared it from the distant past? Was it not I, the LORD? And there is no God apart from me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none but me. "Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. (NIV)
We are called to pray for these people that they will open their eyes to the worthlessness of their idols and the futility of their worship. We should pray that they will open their ears to the Word of the only living God that can save them. We should pray for people to go and tell them about the only God worthy of their devotion.
I was also struck by the difference in their worship of a worthless god as compared to our worship of the one true God. They would prostrate themselves for hours in worship. We complain if our worship time goes much over an hour. They would memorize passages of their holy books and recite them in prayers and rituals. The average Christian knows more sports stats than Bible verses. They would spend hours praying to a deaf god. We do well to spend more than a few minutes a day in prayer to a God that actually hears and cares about us.
I’m not sure which is worse: praying to a made-up god that cannot hear, or knowing the God of all creation and not making any time for Him.