June 12 I Wednesday

Ezra 3-5

John 20

“King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, sixty cubits high and six cubits wide, and set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon.”   —Daniel 3:1

It may be hard to admit sometimes, but we all have insecurities about ourselves. We may wish that we were smarter, prettier or stronger. We turn to many things in our insecurities, and we find this to be the case with King Nebuchadnezzar. His uncertainty, insecurity and fear about another kingdom rising in its place resulted in him building a 90-foot tall statue! The greater the level of one’s insecurity, the higher the idol becomes. Because of his insecurity, King Nebuchadnezzar gathered all the political, spiritual and judicial powers, including every level of government and every sector of society in Babylon, to worship the image that his hands had made.

  In Pastor Chris Hodges’s article, “What Do You Worship?”, he explains, “We are made to worship, and if we’re not worshipping our Creator, then we’re trying to put something else in his rightful place. This is what we call idolatry: bowing down and offering our hearts to false gods.” Idolatry is when we take normal things and make them the ultimate things in our lives. Tim Keller’s Counterfeit Gods elaborates,
“What is an idol? It is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give.”

One of the reasons why the citizens of Judah were exiled to Babylon was because they gave themselves over to idolatry. One of the idols they worshipped was the false god Baal. They offered their sons as sacrifice to Baal with hope of blessings in material possessions and fruitfulness. We do not see people in our western society and culture bowing to Baal today, but we have witnessed parents, in their quest for materialism, overlook their relationship with their children and spouse by working overtime so that they could get material blessings—not realizing that they are sacrificing their children and family, all in the worship of money. We do not see young girls bowing down to Ashtoreth, the goddess of pleasure and beauty, as it was in the Old Testament, but we do see young girls giving themselves over to all kinds of eating disorders because they have this image and perception of the perfect body and looks.

We may not be bowing down to these idols, but what these idols represent are very real in our society. They just take different forms. Is there an idol that we are worshipping to hide, satisfy or disguise our insecurities? May we tear down our idols and find that our security and hope are found in God alone.

Prayer: Lord God, I surrender my own uncertainties, insecurities and fears into Your hands. Turn my heart from bowing down to idols created by man to wholly worshipping You alone––the one true God. Thank You, Lord.