God versus the gods

You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God.  –Exodus 20:3-5a (NIV)

The first two commandments YHWH gave Moses deal with His identity. God’s children need to understand who He is. He doesn’t demand to stand alone as GOD because He is insecure – He remains sovereign LORD of the cosmos whether or not humans recognize Him as such.

Rather, the verses hint at mankind’s need to worship. Our nature is to look for help, comfort, worth, beauty, majesty and meaning in the world around us. As such, God anticipated that we would go “lookin’ for love in all the wrong places”. He is jealous because we are His and He is ours. No other entity has the right to stand in as a surrogate. He made us for something more, something real.

What is an idol? The best definition I’ve ever heard was in a Celebrate Recovery worship assembly. I really thought I was off the hook when the speaker started talking. After all, I didn’t have any statues in my living room or shrines in my closet where I paid homage to a false god. Then he said this: “An idol is ANYTHING you run to for comfort and security when you should’ve been turning to God.” Whoa.

For the practices of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel. They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter. Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field, their idols cannot speak; they must be carried because they cannot walk.  –Jeremiah 10:3-5a (NIV)

He then spoke of our secret sins – cravings, substances, places on the internet, habits, ways of responding that damage relationships – all the things we do for a quick fix when the stress becomes too much to bear. “Hello, I’m a grateful believer in Jesus Christ who struggles with pride, anger, lust, and control issues. My name is Scott.”

I suspect that many people who have bowed before idols knew they were not “gods”. I recently learned that while the idols became a physical representation of the gods being invoked, it was actually their location and ornamentation, and their accompanying rituals, that were designed to attract and impress whatever entity was being sought. The idol was more or less a platform to welcome the spirits. Kind of like a Ouija board.

Therein lies the problem with idols, both ancient and modern. The things we worship other than God invite demonic presence, power, and influence. In the effort to find some relief or prosperity or pleasure, we get tangled up with forces that are beyond our ability to control. The payoff becomes less even as the desire becomes greater. We become slaves. No wonder YHWH is jealous for us…. Hey, we’re gonna worship something – it’s who we are. So let’s be sure it’s something real. Let’s be sure it’s the Someone who made us, loves us, and wants to bless us with every good blessing.

Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying: “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!”  –Revelation 5:13 (NIV)