God's chosen people, the Israelites, had just come out of the bondage of slavery in Egypt and were on their way to the Promised Land. Egypt had been filled with the worship of many pagan gods--the Nile, the sun, animals, and so on. Canaan, the land to which God was leading them, was also surrounded by pagan worship. God was instructing His people that nothing was to come into their hearts and lives before Him. He knew the danger and destruction that would bring. He was to be first in their lives. And, for a while He was. But if you've ever studied the Old Testament, you know that before long the Israelites began to be influenced by their surroundings and slowly drifted away from the pure worship of God. So God allowed calamity to fall on the nation to get their attention. They turned back to God, called out to Him for deliverance, which He always brought, and the people returned to their faith once again--for a while. This is the cycle we see repeated over and over in the Old Testament.
I so often have studied this and thought, "You silly Israelites. Why did you keep turning to the false gods around you? Why didn't you just stay faithful to God and avoid all the problems you brought on yourself?"Then God speaks to my heart and says, "You silly Becky. Why do you keep spending yourself on things that don't matter? Why don't you just stay faithful to Me and avoid all the problems you bring on yourself?"
Yes, we are guilty of this, aren't we? I haven't noticed any physical "idols" around my house or my friends', but there are other things we worship--other things we give ourselves to first. It may be family, work, financial security, material possessions, friends, even church work--anything that we allow to direct and dominate our lives other than the Holy Spirit.
A Bible teacher I once had gave us three questions to ask ourselves to test what was really important in our lives:
1--What do you think about the most?
2--What excites you more than anything?
3--What do you always have time for?
Take a prayerful look at your answers. Has something else or someone else become a god in your life? Well, don't be silly--fix it!
Becky
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