Who's Your Idol?

1.4.14
They deck the idol with silver and gold they fasten it with nails and hammer so that it will not fall apart or move around. Jeremiah 10:4

The problem with man made idols is that they are made by man.  They must be glistening with gold or shining with silver to be attractive to the potential or already faithful worshipper.  It has to be hammered or glued so that it won't fall apart and nailed down so that it won't fall over.

One of my favorite stories in the Bible is when Elijah put God up against a god.  He told the people, look quit "limping between two opinions.  If The Lord is God, follow Him, if Baal, follow him." (This is a whole nuther subject for another time!) So he put on a little demonstration to help them make up their mind.

He told them to set up their barbecue pits, slice a cow in half and he'd place half on one side and they'd place the other on their side and see who's God provided fire to the pit.

So they called on Baal to send down fire, nothing happened and then again, but still no fire.  Elijah says, maybe you should yell a little louder, he might be off somewhere deep in thought, or perhaps he's taking a potty break(relieving himself, yes they really did say that in the Bible).  Or maybe he's taken a vacation and didn't inform you.  I like your style Elijah, a little sarcasm to state the obvious.

Their idol, their god could not can not do what our God can.  Idols come in all shapes and sizes.  Some don't even have a shape because they are our careers, our children, our pursuit of having more, our hobbies or pastimes.  Anything that we excessively devote ourselves to over God is idol worship.  Eventually we will find those things don't "fit the bill" or fulfill what's missing.

The things that once held our attention and had attracted us to them once will change.  Things change, even silver tarnishes, gold loses it's luster, wood rots, things topple over and things fall apart.  God the one true living God does not.

I will endeavor this year to recognize what I've put first before God and switch that around to the proper order. It has done me well to recall even if just for a brief moment this morning, how easy it is to put other "gods" before God, and to realize how great our God is.

He's not held together by nails, He was pierced by them to pay for our sins.  He wasn't fashioned by wood, He was placed on a piece of wood in the shape of a cross.  He can and has called down fire from Heaven in His judgment, but His grace and mercy was sent down from Heaven in His Son, Jesus who stands now before God and us. So thankful I am to know the only real God, and to get to know Him more!  4/365