Stolen Gods

8/4 Reading Portions: Judges 18; Acts 22; Jeremiah 32; Psalm 1-2

IDOLATRY

And he said, “You take my gods that I made and the priest, and go away, and what have I left? How then do you ask me, ‘What is the matter with you?’” Judges 18:24

When the five Danites spied out the land and found the house of Micah, not only was the land spacious, but Micah also had his own personal priest, an ephod, a carved image, and household gods. After this recon mission, 600 armed warriors from the tribe of Dan entered the hill country of Ephraim and took it. The five spies took away Micah’s personal priest, the Levite, as well as the ephod, carved image, and all the household gods. Micah’s situation was a sad, pitiful thing. How pathetic— to own and worship gods which could be stolen and carried away.

I remember when I was stationed at Mobile Diving & Salvage Unit One in Pearl Harbor. Although I was a diving supervisor and a leading petty officer in our division, I was still quite young in the Lord. One of the sailors in our division boasted to me of having several gods. He showed them to me one day— a couple of wooden images, each one carved from a single block of wood. One was Polynesian and the other was Tahitian. Having gods like that seemed an odd thing to me. It seemed he could have just as well worshiped the standup locker which held his clothes.

Sadly, however, since you and I are corrupt descendants of disobedient Adam, we have a tendency toward idolatry; moreover, though we are saved by God’s grace, we can be just as prone to craft an idol within our hearts and minds if we don’t keep ourselves clinging to Christ and submissive to His truth. Idolatry is simply esteeming someone or something of equal or greater value than our Lord Jesus Christ. The only cure is constant communion with Jesus Christ through the Spirit. “Little children, keep yourselves from idols” (1 Jn 5:21).

Sad, so sad, the idols we make
Are stolen right away;
We’re quickly robb’d since we forsake
Christ, the true source and stay.

“Carved wooden gods” Photo by Hawaiiurlaub.de | 🐢☀️🤙🏽🌴🌋 on Unsplash

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