God Or Gods?

The human heart is a perpetual idol factory.

- John Calvin

I’m reading through the Bible this year. I’m almost finished with Exodus, and I’ve found myself contemplating the plagues written about in Exodus 7-11 and the patterns the Israelites became accustomed to during over 400 years of slavery in Egypt.

God sent each plague to convince the Pharaoh to release the Hebrew slaves so that they could worship and serve God and to prove that He was more powerful than all the gods of Egypt. For example, the plague of blood was to prove God was more powerful than the Egyptian God of the Nile, Hapi. The plague of gnats was to prove God was more powerful than the Geb, the Egyptian god of the Earth. It would seem that both the Hebrew slaves and the Egyptians would have seen the power of our God by the time the plague of the firstborn had come. Right?

Soon after, the Israelites crossed the Red Sea, Moses was given the ten commandments in Exodus 20. Verse 6 says:

“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, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.”

Okay, so fast forward with me to Exodus 32, the chapter entitled “The Golden Calf.” God had just told His people NOT to make nor bow down to any graven image. And what did they do? Verse 7 says:

“Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’”

The Israelites grew impatient waiting for Moses to come down from Mount Sinai, and so they returned to what they had learned from the Egyptians. The false gods of Egypt had infiltrated their hearts!

After meditating on this today, I found myself wondering how often we do the very same thing.

We take the good things in our life that God has given us: homes, mountain cabins, RV’s and SUV’s (and the list goes on) and worship them instead of God. We may not intentionally turn away from God, but instead “put Him on a shelf” because we don’t have time to spend with Him. Of course, when trouble comes, we run to the shelf and take Him off. When He answers our prayer, He goes right back on the shelf!

When Jesus was on the earth, He was tempted. Would He submit to the devil (god) or God? You can read about His temptation in Matthew 4:1-11. He was tempted with food, after 40 days of fasting, and powerful wealth if He would only submit to the devil. Even in His humanity, Jesus kept His focus on God, who was at the center of His heart.

As we move into the season of Lent in preparation for Easter, I invite you to, along with me, ponder the question: “Is God at the center of my heart or stuffed away on a shelf?”

What is it that we need to move away from in order to move towards Jesus, our Savior?

Pastor Pam

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