Day 7 of the #31dbc!
It always struck me as funny, or odd, to read in the Old Testament how much trust and dependency people put in “idols”.
Their idols took on all shapes and forms: One of the obvious ones we all might remember is the huge golden calf that the children of Israel made when Moses went up on Mount Sinai. It was there that God gave him the Ten Commandments. While he was away, the people thought they needed something to worship so they melted down all of their gold jewelry and made a golden calf to worship!
God was not very happy.
Then there was good old Dagon. “After the Philistines had captured the ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. Then they carried the ark into Dagon’s temple and set it beside Dagon. When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the Lord! They took Dagon and put him back in his place. But the following morning when they rose, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the Lord! His head and hands had been broken off and were lying on the threshold; only his body remained. That is why to this day neither the priests of Dagon nor any others who enter Dagon’s temple at Ashdod step on the threshold.” 1 Samuel 5:1-5.
So basically the Philistines steal the Ark of the Covenant, which contains the Ten Commandments, and they take it inside the temple of their god, Dagon. The people are all excited over their victory but when they get up the next morning there is their great and mighty god, Dagon, flat on his face! (Did I mention he is made of stone?)
So they pick old Dagon back up and prop him back in his place and everyone goes back to bed to try it again. But the next morning when they go back in the temple there was Dagon again on his face in front of the ark and his head and hands were broken and lying on the threshold!
The Philistines were so frightened by this that they wouldn’t even step on the threshold ever again! They knew something was pretty powerful about the Ark and their “god” had no power to save himself, or anyone else for that matter.
Here we are some 2000 years later and you are probably thinking “We don’t have Dagon’s and Golden Calves anymore, this is silly.”
Oh really?
Sure we do!
We all have them and they are just as worthless.
We build them up and hang on to them as if they are the last living cell in a dead body!
The Bible shows us just how ridiculous it is to hold on to graven images and false gods;
“Those who make an image, all of them are useless,
And their precious things shall not profit… Who would form a god or mold an image
That profits him nothing?… The blacksmith with the tongs works one in the coals,
Fashions it with hammers,
And works it with the strength of his arms… Indeed he makes a god and worships it;
He makes it a carved image, and falls down to it.
He burns half of it in the fire;
With this half he eats meat;
He roasts a roast, and is satisfied.
He even warms himself and says,
“Ah! I am warm,
I have seen the fire.”
And the rest of it he makes into a god,
His carved image.
He falls down before it and worships it,
Prays to it and says,
“Deliver me, for you are my god!” Isaiah 44:9-17 NKJV.
Now you are thinking, “I don’t bow down to ‘idols’, I haven’t made any graven images.”
True, we don’t have those particular types of idols today, well you would be surprised to find that many still DO, but that is a subject for another day!
But we have idols of another kind. “Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them? Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus says the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that sets up his idols in his heart, and puts the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that comes according to the multitude of his idols; that I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from Me through their idols.” Ezekiel 14:3-5.
Idols of the heart.
They were literally stumblingblocks to the children of Israel and they are the same thing to us today. Those idols kept them from the Lord and they keep us from the Savior!
Most of it is our time, we fill up our time with our idols. I think one of our biggest idols today is the Almighty iPhone, iPad, iPod…technology. It consumes us.
Of course technology isn’t bad in and of itself. It is a good thing! We need it! I love it! It is a tool and a necessary tool. But you know who else loves it?
The enemy of our souls. And he uses it to the best of his ability. He treats it as an idol. He calls it Dagon, the Golden Calf, any name he can put on it because it causes us to spend so much wasted time.
We all know it. We are like mindless robots on that phone. We get on to check something and before we know it we have been on ten different apps and an hour has passed.
We sit down at the dinner table and there is no conversation, we are all on our phones!
You walk into a place of business and are told it’s going to be an hour wait and you don’t even mind anymore! Yay! An hour of games or texting, or Facebook!
We are, at times, like zombies, so focused, and yet so out of focus, because we waste so much precious time on the unimportant that we have made them idols in our lives.
Nobody cares except the time-stealer.
The Bible warns us about becoming like our Old Testament ancestors. “But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. And do not become idolaters as were some of them.” 1 Corinthians 10:5-7 NKJV.
The New Testament tells us to, “Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” Colossians 3:5 NKJV.
We are to set our mind on things above! For the Word says, “…where your treasure is your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:21 NKJV.
So what ARE all the worthless idols doing today?
They are stealing our time if we let them. They can’t bring rain, they can’t send fire down from heaven. But they can cause us to miss our time with God and our families. They can tempt us to the point where we waste hours and hours doing absolutely nothing but “scrolling”….and getting nothing in return.
It is YOU, Lord our God! Our Hope is in YOU! He is the One who brings us all of these things, answers all of our prayers and provides all of our needs.
The only true God is Jesus Christ our Lord. The only God who lived, died and rose again. He is the only God who is coming back to take a Church out of this world.
Don’t be one who is playing around with worthless idols when He comes back…but be looking up and watching and waiting for His glorious appearing!
What do you consider some of the “idols” of our day? Join in the conversation!
We are traveling home from Riga, Latvia today! We have had a wonderful time with our Latvian “kids”, visiting our missionary friends and making new friends. Goodbyes are never easy but we just look forward to our next visit. We would appreciate your prayers for a safe journey back to the States!