"The Lord knew all this would happen. I wonder what He wants to say to you in all this?"
As my friend heard me share how our plans that had shifted and how this pandemic was interrupting our sense of normal, he responded with that wise yet invasive question. What might God be wanting me to pay attention to?
So this week I protected some time one morning and sat with that question. These insights came to mind:
"Slow isn't bad."
"Letting go of control."
These rang true but didn't ruffle my feathers too much. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. I felt the Lord saying, "Ben, you have many idols in your life. Lay those at my feet." Gulp. It was one of those moments where conviction set in deep and fast.
I felt prompted to make a list of some of the idols in my life -- comfort. possessions. people's praise. success at work. control. It started to click together in my heart and mind that some of the discomfort and anxiety I've experienced in this past month is because I've drifted into looking for life in some of these things. And they're no longer delivering. The semblance of control, though false, is an old friend of mine. The lines of aiming for excellence and success out of faithfulness or out of performance easily can blur. Looking to be entertained and finding happiness in what I have is a habitual snare.
Goodness, how easy it can be to get out of whack and to look to the wrong things to tell me who I am. Following my list making of idols God reminded me of a wonderful verse we read as a family just the day before. Isaiah 44:22 in the New Living Translation says this, "I have swept away your sins like a cloud. I have scattered your offenses like the morning mist. Oh, return to me, for I have paid the price to set you free.”
Praise God! Through faith in Jesus Christ we can find forgiveness for looking to idols to give us life. God wants us to turn from them and to enjoy deep fellowship with him. From here in Isaiah 44 I cross referenced my way through the Scriptures and soaked in God's truth about idolatry.
1 Thessalonians 1:9 instructs us to turn from idols to and serve the living and true God.
1 Corinthians 12 warns against being influenced and led astray by mute idols.
Jeremiah 10 helps frame idols for what they really are -- worthless, mute, powerless.
Jeremiah 14:22 shows just where to put our hope in, in the Lord!
1 John 5:21 is short and sweet -- "Dear children, keep yourselves from idols."
And then I ended up at the one that stopped me in my tracks, Jonah 2:8. "Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs."
Idols unchecked lead to destruction! Sometimes it's abrupt and tragic. Sometimes it's a slow and steady decline. Either way, we must choose where we will look to for life. Will it be the living God or an empty, lifeless idol? We are in a covid opportunity to release our grip on the idols in our lives. Friends, may you and I pause and consider where our affection may be misplaced and instead cling to the grace that IS ours in Christ Jesus.
