Idols, false gods

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Exodus 20:3-6     You shall have no other gods before me.  You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.  You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Deuteronomy 4:15-19     “Therefore watch yourselves very carefully.  Since you saw no form on the day that the Lord Spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, beware lest you act corruptly by making a carved image for yourselves, in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth.  And beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them, things that the LORD your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven

Psalm 115:4-8     Their idols are silver and gold, and the work of human hands.  They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see.  They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell.  They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat.  Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.

Isaiah 45:20     “Gather together and come; assemble, you fugitives from the nations.  Ignorant are those who carry about idols of wood, who pray to a god that cannot save

Jeremiah 44:8     Why do you provoke me to anger with the works of your hands, making offerings to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have come to live, so that you may be cut off and become a curse and a taunt among all the nations of the earth?

Hosea 4:10-13      They shall eat, but not be satisfied; they shall play the whore, but not multiply, because they have forsaken the Lord to cherish whoredom, wine, and a new wine, which take away the understanding.  My people inquire of a piece of wood, and their walking staff gives them oracles.  For a spirit of whoredom has led them astray, and they have left their God to play the whore.  They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains and burn offerings on the hills, under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their shade is good.  Therefore, your daughters play the whore, and your brides commit adultery.

Hosea 8:4-6     They made kings, but not through me.  They set up princes, but I knew it not.  With their silver and gold, they made idols for their own destruction.  I have spurned your calf, O Samaria.  My anger burns against them.  How long will they be incapable of innocence?  For it is from Israel: a craftsman made it; it is not God.  The calf of Samaria shall be broken to pieces.

Hosea 13:2, 5     And now they sin more and more and make for themselves metal images, idols skillfully made of their silver, all of them the work of craftsman.  It is said of them, “Those who offer human sacrifices kill calves!”

Jonah 2:8    Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God’s love for them.

Habbakuk 2:18     What profit is an idol when its maker has shaped it, a metal image, a teacher of lies?  For its maker trusts in his own creation when he makes speechless idols.

Romans 1:21-23     For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God as give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.  Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

1 Corinthians 10:14     Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.

Colossians 3:5     Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature; sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.

1 John 5:21     Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

 

God created everything.  After several years of trying to get the people to acknowledge He alone was and is their God, suppling all their needs, food, water, clothing, and so forth, He wanted them to love, revere, and respect Him, to worship Him.  He did not have much luck with these self centered persons who preferred to sin (pridefully and selfishly have their own way) than to live with God in peace and obedience.   God loved man, created in His image, but man did not wholly love him back, they did not honor Him.   They honored themselves and their desires first, then would maybe acknowledge God.  Certainly, God did not deserve to be bumped down to second place–sometimes even lower than that!  

They refused to listen and eventually God determined He needed to flood the world.  He had chosen Noah’s family to be the start of new peoples and He hoped these would desire to spend time with Him as He wanted to do with them.   After the flood, Noah’s family began to repopulate the land; and even with the knowledge and experience of the flood, some of them were still not honorable, loving people.

He decided to have Abraham become the Father of His people.  From the sons Abraham had, one with a slave woman he was urged to sleep with by his wife; and the other son he fathered with his wife, Sara.  Isaac was the son fathered with Sara, his wife.  Isaac married a woman named Rebecca, a cousin from his father’s family who lived a good distance away.  Their union was blessed with twin sons who never got along.  Isaac’s son Jacob, became father to twelve sons with four different women.  His brother also had several children, and they raised their families in separate areas.   Jacob’s children became the twelve tribes of Israel.

They were not a perfect bunch, not a perfect family.  Nor did they all seek God and try to follow Him.  Jacob had a couple sons who deceived then murdered neighbors, all of his sons agreed to ‘get rid’ of their brother, Joseph, and sold him into slavery.  But God’s plan . . .  Joseph became the second highest ranking official in Egypt, in charge of the foods and so forth during the large famine. Most of his brothers came to Egypt when the famine was so bad in their area, seeking food.  Joseph recognized them, but they did not recognize him.  I’m guessing that they believed he was dead, even though they had not delivered the killing blow! 

He was reunited with his family when they all moved to Goshen, not far from where Joseph worked for the Pharaoh.  About 400 years after his death, the once admired Joseph died and was no longer remembered, nor were his family, now numbering in the millions. 

The Israelites were slaves in Egypt. God heard their murmuring, their unhappiness, and laid a plan to help them escape their slavery, leave the only country they knew, and head to the land He was going to bless them with.  God chose a man with low self esteem, who had issues speaking clearly, who was an Israelite, but for the first 40 years of life was raised in Pharaoh’s home, to lead the Israelites from Egypt into the Promised Land.  After a period when God showed His extraordinary powers bringing suffering to the Egyptians, after 10 plagues, Pharaoh finally ordered them all to go.

As they traveled, they grumbled, they fretted, they cried in thirst and doubt, in fear, and they begged God to let them return, to let them get settled, and they disobeyed.  The people did not trust or really even know God, the Creator, the One in charge of all.  They knew Moses had a huge trust and closeness with God, but they realized they did not have it. 

The first time Moses climbed the mountain to have a discussion with God, the people became agitated and fearful, demanding Aaron make them an idol.  Aaron conceded—even after all the miracles he and Moses had told Pharaoh to expect and then had witnessed.  The disasters happened, and eventually, Pharaoh sent the Israelites from him and the country.  Aaron saw the millions of people fleeing Egypt with their herds and all their belongings.  Then he witnessed the Egyptians chasing them all with chariots and horses, and realized they were all pinned.  Yet God interceded—He confused the Egyptians, He damaged their chariots, and He raised the sides of the sea, so the people could easily cross, with the herds, and once they all arrived on the opposite side, God closed the sea over the Egyptians—killing them all.  Aaron and all the people had seen all these miracles.  Yet, within days of Moses climbing the mountain, they urged for an idol to be made–they believed a man-made object could lead them, care for them, and protect them, supplying all their needs. 

How could it have been that easy for them to urge to have a false god made?  How could they believe that something thrown into a fire and man made be able to save them, or help them in anyway?   How could they truly worship such a thing?   How can one believe in something they have created or relegated to some kind of high point?   None of this is God inspired; all of this was their choices, their design, their lack of substance believing.  

But people can make idols from many things.  TV, electronic devices, having to have some kind of media entertaining (facebook, instrgram, twitter or whatever), foods, alcohol, lust, gossiping, abominable sex practices, and so many other things we can elevate to a place of priority in our lives.  It is very clearly stated that God is to be our number ONE always.  Not food, not alcohol, not filling our lives and minds with social media, and putting yourself as the most important thing in the world.  First and foremost God, and then all things will go well with you.   (Matthew 6:33).

God’s word is clear.  We are to destroy idols—anything that takes our focus off God, that interrupts our relationship with God, and keeping Him as number One.  There is to be nothing besides God in first place.

There is no reason we should have an idol other than our Creator.  He created everything, He deemed us one of His chosen, and He has repeatedly made clear He only wants to be loved, in a relationship with us, and have us revere, honor, respect Him–be cause He IS God, Creator, full of goodness, mercy, grace, and love.  i want to fight my demons who try to fight for “their” place in my life.  ‘NO, NO, and NO! Leave now.  I want to serve only my God.’

It’s all a process and sometimes I feel so sluggish, or I take three steps forward and slide back six.  but thank You that You have given me Jesus and the Holy Spirit who help when I stumble and am unsure.  You grace and mercy have abundantly blessed me and ‘mybellaviews.’