majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Deuteronomy 27:15,
"Cursed is the man who carves an image or casts an idol—a thing
detestable to the Lord, the work of the craftsman's hands—and sets it
up in secret."
As Moses prepares the Israelites to cross the Jordan without him, to
take possession of the land the Lord is giving them, he instructs the
Israelites to have certain tribes stand on Mount Ebal to pronounce
curses. Another group is to stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the
people. Of the first group, this curse addressing idolatry, is the
first to be recited by the Levites.
Idolatry is a horrific sin. It is the sin committed when anyone
displaces God in their lives for something else, anything else. Paul
talks about the development of the sin nature as a process that
encompasses idolatry. "For although they knew God, they neither
glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became
futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed
to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal
God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and
reptiles." What a terrible indictment of the human race!
Our God that gets displaced in the sin of idolatry is our Creator
himself. Our very existence is due to him alone. Although he has
brought us into being, he gets displaced and replaced. How could the
creature possibly ignore the existence of the One who brought the
creature into existence? It is astonishing, and yet that is the very
nature of things in this lost and fallen world.
What is even more astonishing is that our Creator, in an unfathomable
love, has reached out to the very people that have turned from him in
rebellion and replaced him with their own idols. And, it is not that
he has only reached out to us, but he sent his Son to die a horrible
death to win us back! As said in Isaiah 53:6, "We all, like sheep,
have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord
has laid on him the iniquity of us all."
What kind of heart does our God have? A big, big heart!
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
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