“Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13.5).
As Israel was looking to the gods of the neighboring countries for protection and prosperity, God—through Jeremiah—accused them of being people who “follow the stubbornness of their hearts and go after other gods to serve and worship them” (Jeremiah 13.10). We can easily look back at the Israelites and shake our heads, wondering how they could be so reckless as to ignore God by worshipping statues made out of stone and wood.
Unfortunately, just as Israel was blinded by the empty promises of the gods they worshipped, we too are duped by things promising security and significance. As Pastor Jeff Manion reminds us in this video clip from this past weekend, we need to ask ourselves about our own gods. Though the fraudulent gods of our culture are not as overt as gods carved out of stone and wood, they’re just as unreliable and devastating.
Because of the great risk inherent in following these gods, it’s imperative we identify our substitute gods. God told Jeremiah to buy a belt. When a belt is wrapped around a waist, it binds things together. As you spend time with God today, ask him to help you identify your idols by answering these questions: What is my life bound around? What am I all wrapped up in? Then, insert that thing into Hebrews 13.5 in the place of God to help solidify the absurdity of relying upon something other than God for security and significance.
