Cast Away Your Idols

[thesparrow]

"For he Manasseh took away the strange gods, and the idol out of the house of the Lord, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the Lord, and in Jerusalem, and cast them out of the city.” (II Chronicles 15:15) You need to know that Manasseh began to rule when only twelve years old. He reigned for fifty five years in Jerusalem. He took the place of his father Hezekiah who had done much good during his rule.

(II Chronicles 33:2) "But did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, like unto the abominations of the heathen, whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel." Verses 3-8 tell of all the evil things he did. Verse 9 “So Manessah made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err and to do worse than the heathen, whom the Lord had destroyed before the children of Israel.” Verse 10 & 11 tells us that the Lord spoke to the people and their king, but they would not listen.

How many times has God spoken to us and we wouldn’t listen. People are no different now than they were back in the days of the Kings. Verse 11 “Wherefore the Lord brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, which took Manasseh among the thorns, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon.”

Why do have to learn things the hard ways? We, in our pride, think we can rule our own lives and don’t need a God to tell us what to do. But when we get into deep trouble, we most often turn to God to get us out of it. Verses 12 & 13 “And when he was in affliction, he besought the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. And prayed unto Him: and He was entreated of Him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manassah KNEW that the Lord He was God.

Do we acknowledge that the Lord is God? Or do we too have our share of idols? We must remember that all through Bible history, the Old and the New Testament, that people forgot their Maker and turned to inanimate objects to worship and expect them to do “miracles” for them, but it never happens. In the beginning they “seem” to bless us and eventually they put us into bondage. The “nice” things about these gods is that we think we can more or less control them until we get obsessed by them and they begin to control us.

Our Father God, the Creator of ALL things, is the only true God we can NOT control. He has the only right to control anyone or anything. When this Almighty, omnipresent God controls our lives, we are freer than when we try to do it ourselves. If I keep repeating this, it is so one day it may sink in that God’s way is the ONLY way to go. All other ways fail. Oh, pardon me, but you aren’t like those people. Think about it? One of the Egyptian gods was Ra, the sun god. Anything in moderation (and not explicitly against God’s commands) is not bad, but when you become obsessed about it, whatever “it” might be - then you are in trouble. “It” takes over control.

Ra, the sun god is very much reigning today. Many aren’t satisfied going to the beach to get a natural suntan. These don’t stay long with you. To accommodate a year round suntan, making you look as though you just came back from Florida or other warm places, tanning salons are popping up all over the world. You let yourselves get cooked under unnatural heat. You spend a fortune and your body becomes another idol.

You just have to go to some rigorous exercise place to get your body in shape (other than the one God gave you) to go with the tanning. More money is spent and it goes along with the stress you give yourself to rearrange all your parts. You do need Vitamin D in your diet and being in the sun helps to get this. But how much is enough? Too much sun can cause skin cancer. Is it worth the price to cook yourself to death to look fashionable. Fashion is a great idol we often worship.

One time it was NOT fashionable to be tan. The women did everything to keep their complexion nice and light. They wore large brimmed hats or carried parasols to keep the sun off them. When did fashion dictate that you had to be tan to look good? You don’t actually bow to Ra but the sun is important to you, even it is artificial sun just like Ra is an artificial god. Is it worth it? Do you think to give that much time in giving homage to the only God?

You can get mad at me if you want but the Holy Spirit led me this way. It has to be said. And I have to obey. Are your children one of the gods that can’t be appeased? Do they stand high on their altar and make you feel small? How did we make them one of our idols? Did our parents dare to be parents and turn a deaf ear to every childhood whim. Was it lack of cash or did they realize too much of a good thing for a child would make him “sick”?

It wouldn’t teach them discipline. And many refused to go in debt for so many frivolous items, soon to be discarded. It was a moral issue. Then came that magical credit card. It put unrealistic power into our hands. Made us into a generation of slaves to that small piece of plastic. “Hmmm! I don’t need immediate cash. I can get “IT” and use it “NOW”. I don’t have to wait until I have enough money. I got caught in the money trap. Then I would borrow to pay another needless bill off but much interest was added to the smaller amount and almost impossible to get out of the pit. Just like trying to climb up an icy slope.

You make a little progress, so you think, and zoom down you slide back to the bottom. You can never get very far until you slide back again. As our kids become an idol, the plastic magic becomes another. It allowed us to kneel at our kids feet and sacrifice much to satisfy their greedy “just have to haves” to keep up with their peers. Realizing the power they have on their parents, they begin to look down on their “self-made slaves”.

Don’t get me wrong. All children aren’t like that but more and more are becoming “monsters” who kill their parents because they weren’t allowed to get a pair of the most expensive sneakers. We can’t close our eyes to this fact. It’s getting scarier every day. The signs of the times. Matthew 10:21 “And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.”

I had much more to say but this is enough to digest at one time. As time goes on and the Holy Spirit dictates to me, I will write about “Other gods we worship”. Can we be like Manassah and turn to God when we see how far we have strayed from the simple instructions God has given us to enjoy our life as He had planned it? Modern inventions offer us so much but produce so little in contentment and peace of mind. We run here and there in a continuous frenzy. We do not know how to slow down and spend quality time with our family and especially with God. (There are always exceptions. I can name one lady especially.)

We may say a quick prayer when we need help but often when on the run. When the prayer is answered, we may say a quick thank you. When was the last time did we (I am often guilty) actually shut out everything else and spend time with just visiting God without asking for a favor? He wants our company and our undivided attention on a regular basis. We have to cast away anything that is a hindrance to our intimate relationship with God. Moderation is the key word. We don’t have to give up everything but we do have to know when to draw the line. Philippians 4:5 “Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.”

God bless you as you think all this over and you learn to set your priorities right. What or Whom is most important?