IDOL WORSHIP - NOT ME?!
17th Oct 2018
King Solomon is renowned for his God given wisdom. Using it he achieved so much; he built magnificent structures, settled tricky disputes, fill his country with wealth and stability. Foreign kings and queens brought him gifts and drew on his wisdom.
The Queen of Sheba praised him and God, 1 Kings 10:6 in The Message says, “It’s all true! Your reputation for accomplishment and wisdom that reached all the way to my country is confirmed. I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it for myself; they didn’t exaggerate! Such wisdom and elegance—far more than I could ever have imagined….. Clearly, God’s love for Israel is behind this, making you king to keep a just order and nurture a God-pleasing people.”
However, Solomon had an idol, 1 Kings 11:1 states that he was obsessed with women, and this became his downfall. He loved foreign women, built altars to their vile gods who required child sacrifice, obscene sexual rites, and God was not pleased with him because he had disobeyed God’s specific commands.
Solomon’s flirting with foreign gods to please his many wives lost him intimacy with God. It is a very sad story of someone to whom God revealed Himself, blessed and provided for in such abundance, but who put idols before the true and living God. From then on everything went downhill.
In Revelation chapter 2, the Ephesian church is rebuked because they left their “first love”, and anything or any person who causes us to do the same could be termed “an idol”. The Ephesians were told to repent and return to their first love and passion, or their candlestick would be removed, which it appears was what happened - the church in Ephesus is no longer visible.
What of present day idols? Things you love more than Jesus? Things you give your time to, whilst declaring you are too busy to gather with fellow believers, or keep your personal time with God?
Modern life is full of idols - check what you are worshipping. It may not be a carved image or phallic shrine, but if it takes precedent over Jesus, it’s an idol. It needs to be cast down so that God can take His rightful place, and peace and favour be restored.
Ponder this prayerfully and ask the Holy Spirit to correct and restore you.
by Joyce Sibthorpe
