“The human heart is a factory of idols… Every one of us is, from his /her mother’s womb, an expert in inventing them.” John Calvin
“You shall have no other gods before Me,” resonates deeply through the corridors of time as a call to unwavering loyalty and fidelity. It beckons us to place the highest value on our spiritual connection, to recognize the supremacy of a singular divine presence in our lives. This commandment is not merely a prohibition but an invitation to a profound relationship rooted in trust and reverence. It reminds us that in the ever-expanding tapestry of our existence, the threads of faith and devotion should never be overshadowed by transient pursuits or false idols.
Does this apply to you? It mattered a great deal to the Jews in captivity as they sat weeping by the rivers of Babylon. Writing the verses of Genesis 1, they were guided by the audacity of God to limit the creation of Sun, Moon, and stars to day 4. These were the major gods in Babylon and the surrounding region which make this limitation to day 4 a direct insult to those surrounding gods.
16 God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.
It is this scientific, non-religious interpretation of natural objects that is before us. God created all things for us to explore and enjoy, but not to be worshipped. For the Babylonians, heavenly bodies were given divine status; for the Hebrews, heavenly bodies were just that, to be accepted, studied and enjoyed with thanksgiving to the Creator of light, to be studied without fear.
The story of the Wise Men who followed a star, is a great teacher. The star could only guide them to Jerusalem, it was there that they read the scriptures which pointed them to Bethlehem. Having worshipped Jesus with the symbolical gifts of Gold (for the realm of Herod), Frankincense, (for the realm of the Temple) and Myrrh (for the realm of the dead), were filled with the Spirit which guided them home another way, not through the fatalistic assumptions of astrology) to avoid the murderous Herod.
St Augustine wrote: “If we must speak of fate, then rather let us say, not that the star was Christ’s destiny, but that Christ was the destiny of the star.”
A.W. Tozer: “The essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him.”
Do your own personal “self-check” to see who/what might have crept in between you and God.