Humans like to make idols, because it humanizes things that are exalted or difficult to understand and gives us some control over them. In a modern context, one of the ways that this commandment applies to us is that it means we must be careful with art that depicts God or spiritual things. Artistic renderings of such things are good, but dangerous, because they can easily misrepresent God or communicate limitations that are not real. In a broader context, any activity that we do (beyond art) can be an attempt to manipulate, control or contain God.
