If you are like me everytime I read through the Bible there are certain topics or thoughts that seem to stick out to me that maybe I didn't always see before. It is no different this time through the Bible. Especially in the Old Testament there is a constant reference to how much 'Idol Worship' really pushed God's buttons. The Israelites were constantly rebuked and even punished for their relentless involvement with idols. On a number of occasions I caught myself thinking how foolish these people were. How can God make it any clearer for them? If they turn from their idols He will bless them, and if they continue to serve their idols, He will allow them to face destruction. Immediately you would think that they would stoke their fires and burn every last one of those statue idols. One thing is for sure, that is what I would have done. Right!
It was easy for me to think 'Idol Worship' was not something that I even remotely struggled with until a fairly new believer in Christ asked me to explain the commandment of 'No other god before the one and only God', 'Idol Worship'. Little did I know that this question was going to open a whole new realm of things God was going to work on in my life. 'Idol Worship' is anything that we give our life, our resources, our passions, and our thoughts to! The Bible says that we are to pray without ceasing...to meditate on the word of God day and night. When I discovered this definition I began to see how my life was guilty of this kind of idoltry. Every time I would take my eyes off of God and place them on the obstacles in my life, worrying about what might happen, I was engaging in a form of idolatry. How? By worshipping the problem rather than the Creator of the universe. God created me to give Him worship, yet I was taking this very valuable gift and putting it at the feet of another master. The master or idol being my problems, my goliath, my fear of the obstacles. Day and night thinking about them and trying to figure out a way around them. Yet they only grew and became tormenting as I meditated on these seemingly impossible challenges until God opened my eyes to see that I was putting my worship at the feet of the obstacle. The obstacle was receiving more of my attention than the one who really wanted it.
David was a man after God's own heart that did not meditate at the idol of Goliath. Instead he worshipped God even while he was charging this seemingly indestructible giant. David worshipped the God of the universe and it was this kind of worship that reduced the size of every obstacle.
Do not make an idol out of your struggle, obstacles, or giants. Remember God is not only angry when we do, He is appalled that we would give our greatest gift, Our Worship, to an idol that has no power. If you are overwhelmed, stop and connect with God. When you do and when you begin to see the granduer of who God is, every struggle will lose its power. Try it right now, it will work.
Although there are many forms and descriptions of idols in the Bible, this is a form that is radically changing my life. "Stop worshipping the struggle." I pray it will give you the same peace it has given me.
