“Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God”
– Exodus 20:3-5

I’m always interested by the idea of multiple gods and idols. When we look at ancient times, many religions had a god for everything. There was a god for a good harvest. There was a god for good rains. There was a god for good health. If there was something in your life that you needed done, there was a god to sacrifice to who would do that for you. It seems to me that in ancient times, idols served as a focus for alleviating our anxieties.

It gave people a sense of control over a world that probably felt uncontrollable and dangerous. I imagine how these gods came to be was if something bad would happen then a new god would be created to make sure that it never happened again. There was no need to feel anxiety. We just created a new god to solve the problem.

This week I have been thinking about how this pattern of idols still plays out in our modern lives. When I get nervous or anxious about something rather than turning to God and His plan, I turn to some idol of my life that alleviates my anxiety. So what are some of the idols that we have in our lives? For me, I have idols of control, intelligence, and rationality.

Oftentimes when I run into a problem rather than stopping and looking for God’s answer to the problem, I turn to my own ability to solve that problem. I read everything I can find on the topic. Then I think about the problem without ceasing. Then when I can’t solve the problem, I blame myself for the failure. I seek to resolve my own anxiety by worshiping the idol of my rationality. Then when it doesn’t work I have only myself to blame. I am in control.

How would life be different if every problem or issue that I bumped into I went to Jesus with it first instead of one of the idols in my life? There are two things that I think would happen. First, when we take our problems to God, it gives Him a chance to fulfill His promises. We are able to see that He is good to us and that His plans always work out. Only through interaction can we build relationship. If we go back to our idol to solve it, then that is what we worship.

“O taste and see that the LORD is good: Blessed is the man that trusteth in him.”
– Psalm 34:8

The second thing is that when we take things to God, it becomes His to make work. Yes, we still have to do what He tells us but, He is responsible for making it work. It always amazes me that when I turn things over to God, I don’t struggle with anxiety and depression as much.

“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.”
– 1 John 4:18

So if you are struggling with episodic depression, anxiety, addiction, family conflict, it is likely because we have idols in our lives. Things that we go to in order to take care of our problems rather than going to God. If you want peace in your life, you have to go God and not these idols.

“thy graven images also will I cut off, and thy standing images out of the midst of thee; and thou shalt no more worship the work of thine hands.”
– Micah 5:13

– Jeremiah

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