“And if you will indeed obey my commandments that I command you today, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, he will give the rain for your land in its season… Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them; then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and he will shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain… See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way that I am commanding you today, to go after other gods that you have not known.” (v13-14,16-17,26-28 abr)
Israel is given a simple directive – obey God and His commandments. If they obey, they receive abundant blessing. If they don’t obey, God will withhold His blessing and there will be consequences/punishment.
What is the main commandment God gives them? The first and seemingly most important of the “big ten” – “You shall have no other gods before me.” This commandment is the most repeated, and probably should be. As we later read in books like Kings, Chronicles, Judges, etc. Israel constantly struggles with worshiping foreign gods, and the same could be said of us today.
I know we’ve talked about this before, but just like God repeats the theme for Israel, I think it bears repeating for us too. We are to fully submit to God, and God alone. The same God who sent His son Jesus to die for our sin – we are not to worship any other gods.
What is a “foreign god” today? I haven’t heard of anyone still worshiping Baal or Molech. That’s because the enemy is cunning – he tempts us elevate things in our lives to be equally or more important to us than God. There are too many examples to give an exhaustive list, but some potential gods may include entertainment, sports, work, a relationship, etc.
Jesus says “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Mt 6:21) I realize He’s speaking of material wealth in the greater context, however, I would suggest it still applies to intangible things as well. If we spend the majority of our time, energy and money serving one or more of our passions, and we don’t love, glorify and worship God within those pursuits, those pursuits can become more important to us than God. This is a very easy trap into which we can fall, because it appears so harmless at first.
Yes, we still need to have human relationships, work, play, etc. to have a healthy life balance, but the point is those things should never prevent or distract us from spending time with God. Those things in our lives are not inherently bad, but they cannot become more important to us than God. My challenge for today is to remember that because of God’s and Jesus’ love for us, we have these blessings, and to thank and glorify God for them. God is “the Lord our God, who brought us out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery”, and there will be consequences/punishments if we have other gods before Him. We know from the Bible that God will not allow this sin to remain in His presence, and He will deal with it harshly.
Father God, O Holy One of Israel, great and mighty are You. You have set the captives free through Jesus’ death and resurrection. You have freed us from the bondage of sin, by Your mighty arm You have saved us. Great and merciful King please keep us on the paths of righteousness for Your name’s sake, guarding our hearts from the worship of other gods. Please open our eyes to the deception of the evil one, and keep us from sinning against You. There is only one God – the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. All honor, glory and praise be to You, forever and ever, amen.
~ Conqueror in Training