"Hezekiah...brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it." ~ 2 Kgs. 18:4
When means to an end become an end in themselves, they no longer are important, even God ordained ones. The brazen serpent God instructed Moses to make as a means of conveyance in the healing to His people had become an end in and of itself. It had become an object of superstitious worship.
It is easy to fall into the trap of idolizing the thing or person God uses in our lives to bring us healing; physical or spiritual. It is so tempting to put the means, things God uses to bring blessings to our lives, on a self-constructed altar of worship. Something used in grace can become a disgrace. And when this happens, it or they, lose God's touch upon them; they become impotent.
Matthew Henry says, "Good things , when idolized, are better parted with than kept."
by an Aged Saint