Tag: idols

They Found the Book

On By Judy GlasserIn AugustLeave a comment

The Book of the Law.

Moses’ book.

God’s words.

King Josiah knew it was time to repair the temple of the Lord.August 2 2015 They found the book

So he made it happen.

While they were cleaning and fixing the temple, they discovered “the Book of the Law of the Lord that had been given through Moses.( 2 Chronicles 34:14)  The book was read to the King who immediately tore his robes and asked the prophetess Huldah to tell him what God wanted to say to him.  Her message from God can be boiled down to on word, ‘disaster’.

The king reacted immediately by having the Book read to all of the people and then leading them in renewing their covenant with God.   The king cleared out all of the idols from the temple along with the idolatrous priests.  He destroyed all of the places for idol worship and altars.  He got rid of the mediums and spiritists along with all other ‘detestable’ things.

When everything was done, they celebrated the Passover which had not been celebrated properly for hundreds of years.

Is it true that some of us need to ‘find’ the book of the Lord?

Are there ‘things’ in our lives that we put a higher priority on than our relationship with God?  These are our idols.

Do we look at sources other than God for our guidance and direction?  These are our mediums and spiritists.

Is our Bible sitting on the shelf more than its been sitting open on our lap?

We need to read it.

And let God transform our lives through it.

King Josiah’s cleansing of the land of Judah was a high point in their history.  He heard God’s word, he listened and he obeyed.

King Josiah found the Book.

The book led him to God.

God led him to renewal and celebration.

Is it time for some renewal and celebration in your life?

Maybe its time to REALLY find the Book.

Thank you for revealing your truth to us, Abba Father.

It’s So Easy

On By Judy GlasserIn MarchLeave a comment

March 17 2015 Its so EasyIt’s so easy to listen to the selfish, sinful thoughts that come into our minds.  Satan’s team is also always there – encouraging us to focus on ourselves and what we want.

We take our eyes off of God.

We wander away.

It doesn’t take any effort at all.

This is what happened to the Israelites after Joshua died.  They didn’t finish the job of completely take over the Promised land.  Despite all of their promises to God, they let the pagans continue to live in the land.

It was easier.

Some of the pagans were forced into being servants for the Israelites but they stayed…

along with all of their idols and false gods.

This began a period of decline for the Israelite nation.

Yes, the idols became snares for them.

Yes, the false gods became traps.

The Israelites disobeyed God and began to experience significant adversity in their lives as a result of their bad choices.

Just like we do when we choose to disobey….when we make decisions without consulting God and his truth….when we focus on our own desires rather than God’s.

Fortunately, we read over and over in the Old Testament that the Israelites also recognized their rebellion and repented.  They turned away from the things that were trapping them.  They turned back to God – just like we need to do when we recognize our own rebellion.  Our own sin.

Dear Father, Please guide us back to you whenever we wander.

Be Appalled

On By Judy GlasserIn July2 Comments

Jeremiah tells the people of Judah to compare their faithfulness to that of the pagans.July 25 2014 more faithful first one

The pagans had false, worthless gods who had never done anything for them.  Yet, the pagans were extremely faithful to their gods – to the point of sacrificing their sons and daughters.

Meanwhile, Judah had exchanged their glorious, loving God for worthless idols.

” Be appalled at this’, Jeremiah says.  “Shudder with great horror!”

Do we ever do this?  Do we ever show more faithfulness to one our idols that we do to our Father God?

It’s easy to get caught up in spending our time and energy serving the god of money.  How many hours a week do we work?  How does that compare to the time we spend reading God’s word, praying, worshipping and serving?  Yes, most of us have to work to support ourselves.  Balancing that in order to make sure our top priority also gets an appropriate amount of time and energy is difficult….not impossible.

Our Glorious God who provides everything for us – including our next breath – is calling us today to be faithful.

Yes, dear Father.

Worthless

On By Judy GlasserIn JulyLeave a comment

Do I have a meaningful purpose for living?July 8 2014 worthless

Am I worth something?

When  I get up in the morning, am I going to accomplish anything of value?

2 Kings tells us that the Israelites chose to follow worthless idols and so….

they became worthless.

Following worthless idols caused their lives to be worthless.

Hmmmm….

What are the idols that surround us today?  Which ones lure us away from the one true God?

Success?

Money?

Fun?

Sports?

Relationships?

What we look like?

What our kids look like?

What our house looks like?

Fill the blank in this sentence and you might find your idol.

“I haven’t been to church lately because __________.”

It’s time to take a critical look at our calendar and bank account.

What do we spend most of our time doing?  Do we have time for Bible study?  Do we have time for serving God?

What are we spending our money on?  Does God get his portion?  Or have we already spent it on our various idols and there are too many bills to be paid?

Hard questions.  And possibly some even harder answers.

Dear Father, please help us find our worth in you.

Just Emotions

On By Judy GlasserIn FebruaryLeave a comment

The people of Israel have just made a covenant with God to love him and serve him for the rest of their lives and for the rest of the lives of generations to come.Jan 31 2014

A very short time later, when Moses had only been up at the top of the mountain with God for a month, the Israelites persuaded Aaron to make them an idol to worship because they ‘needed a god they could see.”  As soon as Aaron was done making them a golden calf, they began worshipping this idol and praising it for bringing them out of Egypt.

Crazy!

That’s what emotions will do to us if we let them determine our actions and committment level. 

We’ll be up!

We’ll be down.

We’ll be up!

We’ll be down.

We’ll be worshipping God one day….

and then worshipping money the next.

We’ll be worshipping relationships the next day….

and then our new big-screen TV the next.

Emotions can’t define our reality.  The Israelites had seen God divide the Red Sea for them.  God had literally provided their daily bread but they ‘felt’ that they needed a god they could see.  Those feelings led them on a roller coaster of disobedience and they paid harsh consequences for their choices.

Dear Father, we thank you for your Word to us.  We ask that you help us put our emotions and feelings under your control so that we can become rock solid in our love and committment to you.  We don’t want to go up and down, sway right and left depending on how we ‘feel’ each day.  May your truth be a compass for every minute of our lives.  We don’t want any gods that we can see….because they aren’t you.  We love and serve the One True God.  In the redeeming name of Jesus we pray, Amen.

Our High Places

On By Judy GlasserIn June1 Comment

What are our high places?

June 20 2013As we’re reading through Kings and 2 Kings, we read about good Kings who did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.  Some of them demolished idol worship everywhere within their kingdom and others destroyed most of it but left the high places.  And the people would continue to worship idols in the high places.

Do we have high places in our lives where we continue to worship our idols?  Pieces of our lives which we want to keep under our control and refuse to give over to God?

Some areas I  had a big and long struggle with but eventually gave over to God are:

My children.  It was a very big relief to finally understand that God loves my children more than me and my worrying over them did no good for anyone.  God is with them always – loving them and taking care of them.

My career.  It was also a big relief when I really understood that my career came from God.  I am where I am because that’s where he wants me to be.  When he wants me to be somewhere else, he’ll guide me there.  Meanwhile, all of my achievements and successes and promotions and pay increases come from him.

Our finances.  I never felt that we had enough money to tithe – until we started tithing.  Since we’ve started tithing, we always have enough money for our needs.  And whenever God decides that we need some extra, he sends us an unexpected check or makes some more hours of work available for my husband. 

God amazed me last year when I felt that he was telling me to plan a trip to Israel but I didn’t have the money.  So I asked him to show me how I was supposed to pay for it.  And he orchestrated an award for me at work which I didn’t even know I was nominated for.  The total of the award was the price of the trip including – of course –  a tithe of the amount.  He couldn’t make it more obvious, could he?

I have learned that, when I was trying to control these things, I was actually keeping them from coming under the blessing of my Father God.  Since I have recognized his Lordship in all of these areas of my life, he has consistently me in each of them – every day in every way.

Thank you, dear God!