"God is great, God is good, Let us thank HIM!" We should live in a constant state of praising the LORD - how awesome and great is He! The world makes celebrities great in our thinking but such s finite in comparison to God's greatness. ONLY He is worthy of our praise. His greatness contrasts markedly with idols which have no power at all except what their followers ascribe to them. What is the idol that you worship without even realizing that you have given such a place in your life?
Praise used to be in the temple - it was the focus of Israel's sacrificial system and a center of public worship. AND it should take place in the temple today...in YOU! "Know ye not that you are the temple...." To worship on special occasions is good, but we can and should worship ANYTIME, ANY PLACE! having a lifestyle of worship.
The question is raised...why would the Lord take lands owned by other people and give them to the Israelites? Two primary reasons...He had promised the land. We have a promise keeping LORD! Second, God gave Israel the territories of those defeated kings because He was judging the proples east and west of the Jordan River for sins they had committed. One thing that is VERY clear: the Israelites did not receive this inheritance of land because they deserved it. The promised land was truly a gift of God's grace!!! (How about us?)
Idolatry had always been Israel's most habitual and costly sin...even though their prophets ridiculed their man-made gods. The Israelites needed to remember that they were the servants of the living God...AND THE CHURCH TODAY ALSO NEEDS TO KEEP THIS TRUTH IN MIND. God is a Spirit and does not have a body; yet, Scriptures speak of His eyes, ears, hands and feet and so on. This is a literary device which uses human characterishtics to describe divine attributes. Using the known to teach the unknown and unknowable. Even though dead idols lacked the attributes of our living God, they were unable to do either good or evil, yet the people worshiped them!
NO mouths (God speaks to us), NO eyes (God's eyes are upon us!) NO ears (His ears are open to our cries NO nose (He receives our worship and is pleased with what we bring to Him NO hands (His fingers made the universe, His arm brought salvation NO feet (The people had to carry their idols, but our God carries us and walks with us)!!
The greatest tragedy is not what the idols cannot do but what they can do to the people who worship them. We become like the God we worship. When we worship our true and living God, He transforms our ears to hear His truth and cries of those in need. He gives us eyes to see His world and the path He wants us to walk. Our spiritual senses develop and we become more mature in Christ - Heb. 5:10-14. But those who worship idols lose use of their spiritual senses and become blind to the light and deaf to the LORD's voice.
Definition of Idol: "That to which your heart clings is your god" Martin Luther.
Anything that motivates us other than a love for God is detestable in God's eyes. Anything we treasure more than Him is an object of idolatry and a violation of the first of the 10 Commandments. Even the values He endorses are detestable when they become an end in themselves. The LOVE that our secular culture pursues is not pleasing to God if it is not in the context of His love. God detests the things we highly value if they are valued apart from Him.
Pride vs Humility
Self - reliance vs HIM dependence
Anything vs the LORD
What have you made into an idol in your life? "GOOD stuff"? prestige? money? success? your spouse? your children? Your good name? We become like our idols: any idol takes our sight and makes us blind to the Source of every good and perfect gift. We become blind and deaf to the truths of the living God...All who trust in their idols are spiritually dead to the things of God!
Praise the LORD - all who revere the Lord should bless and praise Him. Worship was not meant to be a spectator sport..."HALLELUJAH" - A CALL TO PRAISE THE LORD. 135:21
Next week: Psalm 23
1 comment:
Thank you Wes and Bernadine for your teaching and posting the information on the class blog. The act of idol worship today plagues our nation just as it plagued the Israelrites. One of the greatest counter to idol worship today is prayer to the father through Jesus Christ guided by the holy spirit. For it is the prayer through our Lord is the catalyst for the santification/purfication process.
For it is him in us that the world will see and come to know the love he has to share with the world. As we are the Lord's pencils on the pages of humanity.
Thank you again! Your Brother in Jesus Christ.
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