When the LORD made a covenant with the Israelites, he commanded them: “Do not worship any other gods or bow down to them, serve them or sacrifice to them. But the LORD, who brought you up out of Egypt with mighty power and outstretched arm, is the one you must worship. To him you shall bow down and to him offer sacrifices. You must always be careful to keep the decrees and ordinances, the laws and commands he wrote for you. Do not worship other gods. Do not forget the covenant I have made with you, and do not worship other gods. Rather, worship the LORD your God; it is he who will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies.”
They would not listen, however, but persisted in their former practices. Even while these people were worshiping the LORD, they were serving their idols. To this day their children and grandchildren continue to do as their fathers did. - 2 Kings 17:35-41 NIV
What other gods do we idolize? Do we even realize that Jehovah God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of the Universe, the Creator of all, is a jealous God. Do we understand that when he says we are to have no other gods, that includes our possessions, our status, our entertainment? Does he have to strip everything away from us as he did to Israel and later Judah in order to prove that he was serious when he said we should have no other gods. Unfortunately, history shows that most of the time the only way God can get our attention and loyalty is to take everything away and send us into exile. He did it to Israel, he did it to Judah. We should not be surprised if that is our fate as well. We have a choice. We can come back to him, we can divorce ourselves from all that maintains our attention and loyalty. We can tear down all of our idols and high places. We can give him back the rightful place, the throne in our hearts. Can we do it? I don't know. I'm working on it, but I still have a lot of things to let go of before my heart is solely and completely His.
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