Idols

Friday March 17th - His love and faithfulness

10:41 AM

 

Friday March 17th

His love and faithfulness!


Do you ever ask yourself, why am I doing this?  Is it pleasing to the Lord or is it for my own gain? We can be so blindsided sometimes and think we are doing things for the Lord when really it is for our own benefit. It is so easy to get caught up in worldly ways.  We become what we worship.

Idols are a serious matter with the Lord.  Whether they are manmade images or something that takes His place in our lives He abhors them!

God warned the people when they were leaving Egypt- You shall not do what is done in the land of Egypt where you lived, nor are you to do what is done in the land of Canaan where I am bringing you; you shall not walk in their statutes. Leviticus 18:3  

Moreover, you shall not follow the customs of the nation which I will drive out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I have abhorred them. Leviticus 20:23

Jeremiah 10:2- Hear the word which the LORD speaks to you, O house of Israel. 2 Thus says the LORD, “Do not learn the way of the nations, Jeremiah 10:1-2

The first mention of idols was with Rachel when she stole her father’s household idols.  Household idols were to bring a blessing on the house.  Why did Rachel take her father’s household idols?  We really do not know why. 

I wonder do we have idols in our lives taken from our parents? As I was writing this I remembered that in my parents cars there were St Christopher medals for protection while we traveled.  I wonder if I thought I was safe back then because of the medals.  I know that many families have idols in their lives like my neighbor.  For the longest time our neighbor right across the street from us had a buddha statue in her window.  It bothered me so much to see it there…I asked the Lord to remove it and He did.  She now has a beautiful flowering plant there.  Someday I pray that they will know the One true God and find salvation in Jesus.

Scripture is very clear that the Lord is the One true God.  He is the living God and the everlasting King.  It is He who made the earth by His power and who established the world by His wisdom.  A man’s way is not in himself nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps.  Jer. 10:10+12

6 ‘I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
7 ‘You shall have no other gods before Me.
8 ‘You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. 9 You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, 10 but showing loving kindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. Deuteronomy 5:6-10

Is there anything in our lives which takes the place of God? 

Do we cherish things that we are not willing to part with and takes our heart away from God?

Do we put more time, value and effort in something other than God?

Are we holding on to the ways of the world?

O come, let us sing for joy to the LORD,
Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving,
Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.
3 For the LORD is a great God
And a great King above all gods, Psalms 95:1-3

Father we come before You asking You to show us if there is an idol in our life that takes Your place.  We want our hearts to be totally Yours.  You are the One true God and we need not look to another.  Not to us Lord, not to us but to Your name we give the glory, because of Your steadfast love and Your truths.  You are our help and our shield. We trust in You alone!  We  We praise Your name!  Amen

Lyn

Idols

Love The Lord Above All ~ Psalm 97

9:00 AM



Today’s Scripture: Psalms 97 & Exodus 17:1-7 and Hebrews 3:7-11

Good morning, Beloved,

Before we begin our study on Psalm 97, I wanted to share a little treasure I found,


Psalms 96-98 are similar in that each celebrate God’s coming as the world’s King, but Psalm 96 and Psalm 98 focus on what is in store for this world when God returns, while Psalm 97 emphasizes The Lord's attributes.



I loved how these 3 psalms we'll be studying together this week are actually connected. This psalm easily boasts of Jehovah's greatness, but it was verse 7 in this Psalm that grabbed my attention, but let us first start at the beginning for I’d like you to notice how the writer has ‘sandwiched’ verse 7 into this psalm. 

"The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad!

Clouds and thick darkness are all around him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.

Fire goes before him and burns up his adversaries all around.

His lightnings light up the world; the earth sees and trembles.

The mountains melt like wax before the Lord, before the Lord of all the earth.

The heavens proclaim his righteousness, and all the peoples see his glory.








Zion hears and is glad, and the daughters of Judah rejoice, because of your judgments, O Lord.

For you, O Lord, are most high over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods.

O you who love the Lord, hate evil.He preserves the lives of his saints; he delivers them from the hand of the wicked.

Light is sown for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart.Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous,and give thanks to his holy name!" (Ps. 97:1-12)




I found it odd that being sandwiched in this amazing psalm was verse 7, "All who worship idols are put to shame, those who boast in idols - worship Him..."

Psalm 97 sets up a great argument as to why we should be put to shame for trusting in any idols, but do we? I clearly believe the writer was attempting to address those who worshiped carved wooden images, but I believe there are unseen idols that vie for our attention everyday!

Idol is defined as a person or thing that is greatly admired, loved, or revered.

Tim Keller states in his book Counterfeit Gods, an idol is “anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, and anything that you seek to give you what only God can give.”

Bottom line, an idol can be anything that takes the place of God as the most important focus and priority in our life.

Below is a list of a few "idols" that instantly came to mind, (probably because I find myself having to deal with them at times), but this is definitely not an exhausted list. Feel free to share other idols that come to your mind with us.

1.) Self - Those struggling with this idol filter everything through the lens of how it affects them rather than if it's God will or not. We can become embarrassed, angry when our so called rights are impacted, etc. We can look at our schedule first rather than seek God’s will when asked to do something. 

2.) Others Approval - God created as social beings, to live in an interdependent community with one another. Therefore, it’s normal to want to belong. The problem arises, however, when we place our desire to be liked above our relationship with God, and we are held back from doing or saying something we clearly know God has called us to because we fear how others will react.

3.) Relationships - Spouses, Parents, Children, Friends, etc. Trouble arises when we look to others to meet the void in our heart that is only meant to be filled by God, Himself. God is infinite and we are finite. God cannot fail, but people often will. God's love is unconditional, where we often place conditions on our love for others. I could go on, but the bottom line is, when we look to others to fill our needs, we are setting ourselves up for disappointments, but The Lord has promised us that He will never fail us. If we look to Him to fill us up then we can go meet the needs of others together.

4.) Success - We often, when meeting someone for the first time, seek to find out what they do, but truly our worth should be in Christ alone. Our worth is not found in what we do, but in who we are - a daughter of the King.

5.) Wealth - What we own; money, home(s), possessions. Yet, all could be wiped out tomorrow. I'm not saying we should not save for the future, but that it should not be where we place our trust.

6.) Health - down through the centuries it has been believed that we are blessed if we have great health, and it's good to do what we can to improve our health. Increased strength and energy often leads to enhanced productivity. The problem arises when wellness shifts from a tool to an object of our worship.

7.) Comfort - This one can take on a large realm of possibilities, from talking to friends rather than crossing the isle to welcome a stranger, to vacationing at the beach rather than going to help with disaster relief efforts... you get the picture. We like comfort, but it can become a problem when it prevents us from stepping out to do what God has called us to do.

I've given you seven, but there are many more idols that don't take on any tangible form, but are just as dangerous. I believe Jesus is the anecdote for every idol that seeks to control our heart and affections. The more we lean into Him, prioritize our time with Him, and surrender to Him, the more He fills our hearts with good things so that there is no room for anything else.

So, let me ask you...

_ From the list above which one or ones do you most struggle with?

_ What consumes your time each day?

_ What can you begin to do to tear down the idols in your life?

Let's Pray:

O Father, first of all forgive me for the idols that have taken up space in my heart where only You should be! Forgive me for the times, I've failed to do the things You clearly called me to do because of the idols I've given precedence to. O Father, You are mighty, God Most High and above all the earth. May you reign in my heart as You reign over all creation. May You fill my heart with all of Your being so that there cannot be any room for anything else and together, may we go bless this world. Amen.

Blessings,

Sue