Golden Calf and Wooden Monkeys

Sorry I haven’t posted in two weeks.  I have been quite busy.  I will normally post a major posting once a week if time allows me to do so.

Golden Calves and Wooden Monkeys

"I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.  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.”  (Ex 20:2-6)

We all are very familiar with the 10 Commandments.  Moses was given them on Mount Sinai.  But this whole thing about idols, that was so Old Testament right?  Isn’t Ex 20 speaking about carved images like the Golden Calf?  The passage doesn’t stop only at carved images, but continues to state “or any likeness”.  This likeness can be anything that replaces or takes away from giving God the honor and glory and the worship He deserves.  So what makes an idol an idol?  Some items mostly commonly thought of with idolatry perhaps are possessions like a car, boat, money, gambling, motorcycles, RVs, computers, gadgets, games, TV, and so forth.  All of these items may be fine in a normal state, but once they become a priority of our lives then it becomes problematic.  They become problematic because they take away the time that we should be spending with God and what God has given us.  The definition of idolatry is: 1. Worshiping idols, 2. Blind or excessive devotion to something.

Let’s take money for example.  Money is a necessity in life; it’s how we obtain food, clothing, and shelter.  We as God’s people need to be aware of how money can control our livelihood.  “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils.  It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.”  (1 Tim 6:10)  Now it doesn’t say that money is evil, it says “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils”.  Striving for a pay raise or a better job doesn’t necessarily mean that pursuit will result in loving money.  When you begin to habitually desire, or have an “excessive devotion to something”, for the pay raise, better job, or anything else, even outside of money, it can become your idol.  Again, anything that replaces or takes away from giving God the honor and glory and the worship He deserves.  I cannot stress enough how important it is to have a sound understanding what idolatry is.

There are many others that could be classified into idolatry such as food, exercise, working, sports, even your family.  Food is one that can quickly and easily fall into idolatry.  God made food not only to sustain us, but to enjoy eating it.  God gave manna to the Israelites and it was sweet like honey.  (Ex 16)  He made strawberries sweet, lemons sour, Granny Smith’s tart, and many, many more varieties of foods for us to enjoy.  With these foods that God so graciously has blessed us with He also wants us to eat these foods in moderation.  We need to be mindful of how much and of what types of foods to put in our body.  Our body is a temple, a temple in which the Holy Spirit lives in us.  (1 Cor 6:19)  I am not focusing on the Levitical Law in which I am telling you not to eat pork, certain sea food, etc.  I am merely stating that if you habitually indulge in foods beyond the moderation point that it becomes idolatry.

Peter calls idolatry detestable in 1 Peter 4:3 and we need to keep in mind that all scripture is God-breathed (2 Tim 3:16) and it was God who gave Peter the words to write down in his second letter so we can conclude that God detests idolatry.  That word detestable means:  hate, loathes, to abhor, the absolute opposite of love.  And since God is love (1 John 4:8) the opposite of love is the devil.  Idolatry is of the devil.  Plain and simple.

What I recommend is first pray to God and ask Him to bring to light any unresolved sin and to let you know of any idols that are in your life.  Most, if not all, of us have some form of idolatry in our lives.  If you feel as though you have an idol in your life pray to God and ask Him to help you let it go.  Pray that you’ll thirst for His word and His wisdom and that you want to serve Him and glorify Him and praise Him and worship Him and Him alone.  Second I recommend that you remove that idol or that behavior from your life.  If its food, or exercising, or working, or other things in your life that are necessary, minimize them.  It’s not easy.  Every morning, throughout the day, and in the evening pray continuously about this problem to God.  Paul reminds us to pray continuously. (Eph 6:18, 1 Thes 5:17)  Keep in mind that it’s also easy to fall to the other extreme.  It’s all about balance and moderation.  So what are your idols?

Habakkuk 2:18-20

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!
19 Woe to him who says to a wooden thing, Awake;
to a silent stone, Arise!
Can this teach?
Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver,
and there is no breath at all in it.
20 But the Lord is in his holy temple;
let all the earth keep silence before him.”