Are We Becoming Like Them?
It is easy to condemn Israel’s idolatry. We shake our heads at their repeated rebellion and wonder how God’s people could abandon Him so quickly. Yet Scripture invites us to ask a far more uncomfortable question: Are we any different?
Repeatedly throughout the Old Testament, we read of the trouble that came upon the Israelites because of their idolatry. This usually takes the form of God’s people deciding, for many sinful reasons, to make or find something new to worship — some carved image or cast metal object. But idolatry is not merely bowing before carved images. Anything we love, trust, or serve more than God becomes an idol.
Scripture warns the people time and again, and the problem is that idolatry is a fundamental violation of the covenant relationship between God and His people. God had established from the beginning that Israel was to have no other gods except Him (Exodus 20:3–5). The passage in Exodus goes on to forewarn that the consequences of idolatry will reach across generations of the Israelites.
We are quick to judge them for this behavior. We nod our heads when their rebellious behavior is discussed in classes or sermons, but do we recognize the similarities we demonstrate? Psalm 115 speaks of the worthlessness of idols, but it also makes a dangerous observation: “Those who make them are like them; So is everyone who trusts in them” (Psalm 115:8).
While Scripture records the physical idols worshiped by the surrounding nations, it also challenges us to examine the less obvious idols that may occupy our own hearts.
Although our idols rarely take the form of carved statues, they can be just as powerful. Psalm 115 contrasts trusting the Lord with trusting lifeless idols. Whenever our confidence rests in possessions, accomplishments, or human approval rather than God, we begin repeating the same mistake in a different form.
Although “the work of men’s hands” (Psalm 115:4) originally referred to the idols of Israel’s neighboring nations, the principle still applies today. We skip study and worship because other commitments seem more important. We devote ourselves so completely to careers that little energy remains for serving God. We crave recognition, popularity, and influence instead of seeking God’s approval. We become captivated by those whose influence appears great, forgetting that every human voice is empty apart from God.
The greatest danger is not that we might carve an idol from wood or stone. It is that we allow something else to claim the devotion that belongs only to God. Before we condemn Israel’s idolatry, we should first ask whether our own hearts have begun to trust something other than the Lord.
—Martin Kent Miller