Pastor Scott continues to teach through the history book of 2nd Kings. Today we covered chapter 17 and dealt with the subjects of idolatry. God made is extremely clear to the people that they were to worship Him alone, almost patronisingly over explaining it, but still they ignored HIs decrees and continues in idolatry.
For the LORD had made a covenant with the descendants of Jacob and commanded them: “Do not worship any other gods or bow before them or serve them or offer sacrifices to them. 36 But worship only the LORD, who brought you out of Egypt with great strength and a powerful arm. Bow down to him alone, and offer sacrifices only to him. 37 Be careful at all times to obey the decrees, regulations, instructions, and commands that he wrote for you. You must not worship other gods. 38 Do not forget the covenant I made with you, and do not worship other gods. 39 You must worship only the LORD your God. He is the one who will rescue you from all your enemies.” 40 But the people would not listen and continued to follow their former practices – 2nd Kings 17:35-40
Idol Worship can be a tricky thing to determine, what might it look like today? Jeffrey Poor has written an excellent blog about this at rethinkknow.org:
“Anything, or anyone, can become an idol if we place the value for that thing/person above our value for God. In ancient times that would have looked like bowing down to worship a golden statue. In modern times it might look like getting our identity from our job or staring at our technology all day. Anything that becomes more important to us than God becomes an idol”.
So the challenge for us, which we can rise to if we’re asking God to fill us afresh with His Spirit each day, is to not allow anything to become more important to us that God and obey His command to worship Him alone!