God’s Word for You

God’s Word for You Today

April 28, 2022

Jars of Clay: Judges – “Tearing Down The Idols”

That night the LORD said to Gideon, “Take the second bull from your father’s herd, the one that is seven years old. Pull down your father’s altar to Baal, and cut down the Asherah pole standing beside it.” – Judges 6:25 (NLT)

Are there “gods” you’re still serving in addition to Jesus?  Before you answer too quickly, think about it for a minute.  The reason I’m asking is because I think many of us have found it easier to simply “add” God to our lives than to make Him the sole God we seek out and serve.  Sometimes we make a commitment to God, but we set that commitment aside when we’re with certain friends or doing certain things that we know we shouldn’t do, but don’t want to give up.  We also will make room in our lives for “gods” that comfort us when we’re depressed or medicate our pain when we’re feeling lonely or anxious or inadequate.  It’s not that we want to turn our backs on God, we don’t.  We just want God to be okay with these other “gods” upon whom we’ve come to depend.  “God understands,” we tell ourselves.  And we’re right.  He does understand.  But He’s not okay with it.  

This story with Gideon makes that clear.  If God is going to save Israel from all that it’s going through, then it starts with ditching the other gods.  That’s why the Lord has Gideon tear down the idols that his family has and burn them.  God wants to be clear that we can’t serve Him with our whole heart when there are other gods who have a part of it.  He will be our Protector.  He will be our Sustainer.  He will be our Comforter.  He will be our Sufficiency.  We will never discover all that God can and wants to do for us until we give Him the place of EVERY god in our lives and make Him our Only One!

So let me ask you again.  Are there other gods in your life that you need to get rid of?  Would you be okay if Jesus showed up where you and your friends go, see what you do, and hear what you talk about?  When you’re lonely or struggling or anxious, do you turn to God in prayer, or do you turn to a bottle, a website, or a box of cookies?  Lesser gods come in lots of different forms.  But we’re giving them all a place and a power in our lives that God alone wants.  It’s time to let them go.  Offer your idols to the Lord today.  Declare your allegiance and your dependence to Him alone.  Discover what Gideon did.  Power from God and intimacy with God comes when we dispose of the things that stand between us and God.  With your other gods out of the way, there’s no telling what God might do through YOU!  That’s God’s Word for you today.

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