SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/23/2014
8:25 PM
My Worship Time Focus: Jeremiah looks around and ridicules the idols
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Jeremiah
10:1-16
Message of the
verses: In today’s SD we will begin
to look at the fourth point from Dr. Wiersbe’s outline which he entitles “False
Gods: the True and Living God” and it will cover the entire tenth chapter of
Jeremiah.
Before we begin to look at this first sub-point we may
want to take a trip down memory lane and look at the history of the nation of
Israel. It began with God calling an
idol worshiping named Abram who God changed to Abraham and he lived in the idol
worshiping country of Ur of the Chaldeans which is modern day Iraq. It was God who gave this call to Abraham to
move to the Promised Land which he did.
He was 75 years old and his wife was 65 years old when they left their
homeland. God gave a son to them when he
was 100 and Sara was 90 and thus the people of Israel began with this miracle
birth. Eventually Jacob and his family
of around 70 people ended up in Egypt where they eventually became slaves and
while they were there they saw all of the idol worship that went on by the
Egyptians. Four hundred years later God
used Moses to lead the people out of Egypt and took them on their way to the
Promised Land. While they were at Mt.
Sinai God gave Moses the Law and while he was getting that law the children of
Israel were have an idol worshiping orgy at the bottom of the mountain. When they finally got to the Promised Land
God told them to destroy the entire idol worshiping people who occupied the
Promised Land at that time. They failed
to do so and these people that were left influenced the children of Israel
instead of the children of Israel infusing them to worship the One True
God. Eventually the people continued to
worship the idols and that is why the Lord was going to take them out of the
Promised Land and this is where Jeremiah’s story comes in.
Jeremiah Looks around and Ridicules the Idols (Jeremiah
10:1-6): “1 Hear the word which the LORD speaks to you,
O house of Israel. 2 Thus
says the LORD, "Do not learn the way of the nations, And do not be
terrified by the signs of the heavens Although the nations are terrified by
them; 3 For the customs of the peoples are delusion; Because it is wood cut from the
forest, The work of the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool. 4 “They
decorate it with silver and with gold; They fasten it with nails and with
hammers So that it will
not totter. 5 “Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field are they, And they cannot speak; They must be carried,
Because they cannot walk!
Do not fear them, For they
can do no harm, Nor
can they do any good." 6 There is none like You, O LORD; You are
great, and great is Your name in might. 7 Who would not fear You, O
King of the nations? Indeed it is Your due! For among all the wise men of the
nations And in all their kingdoms, There is none like You. 8 But they are
altogether stupid and foolish In their discipline of delusion-their idol is
wood! 9 Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish, And gold from Uphaz, The work
of a craftsman and of the hands of a goldsmith; Violet and purple are their
clothing; They are all the work of skilled men. 10 But the LORD is the true
God; He is the living God and the everlasting King. At His wrath the earth
quakes, And the nations cannot endure His indignation. 11 Thus you shall say to
them, "The gods that did not make the heavens and the earth will perish
from the earth and from under the heavens." 12 It is He who made the earth
by His power, Who established the world by His wisdom; And by His understanding
He has stretched out the heavens. 13 When He utters His voice, there is a
tumult of waters in the heavens, And He causes the clouds to ascend from the
end of the earth; He makes lightning for the rain, And brings out the wind from
His storehouses. 14 Every man is stupid, devoid of knowledge; Every goldsmith
is put to shame by his idols; For his molten images are deceitful, And there is
no breath in them. 15 They are worthless, a work of mockery; In the time of
their punishment they will perish. 16 The portion of Jacob is not like these;
For the Maker of all is He, And Israel is the tribe of His inheritance; The
LORD of hosts is His name.”
When one looks at the description that Jeremiah gives of
idols that the people of Israel along with other nations at that time were
worshiping it makes one wonder why they worshiped those idols. The problem is that they were blind, and
especially the children of Israel who knew the truth were even blinded, and
this make no sense at all.
Dr. Wiersbe quotes A. W. Tozer “the essence of idolatry
is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him.” Dr. Wiersbe explains “It means worshiping and
serving the creature rather than the Creator (Rom. 1:25), the gifts rather than
the Giver. The idols were senseless, and
so were the people. (Jer. 10:8), because we become like the god we worship
(Psalm 115:8).” “Those who make them
will become like them, Everyone who trusts in them.”
I have written about the idols that we as believers, and
even unbelievers worship today, and they are not like the ones that the people
in Jeremiah’s day worshiped. Dr. Wiersbe
comments on today’s idols when he writes “Our contemporary idols aren’t ugly as
were the pagan idols in Jeremiah’s day, but they capture just as much affection
and do just as much damage. Whatever we
worship and serve other than the true and living God is an idol, whether it’s
an expensive house or a car, the latest stereo equipment, a boat, a library, a
girlfriend or boyfriend, our children, a career, or a bank account. That on which I center my attention and
affection and for which I am willing to sacrifice is my god, and if it isn’t
Jesus Christ, then it’s an idol.” “Little
children, keep yourselves from idols” (1 John 5:21).
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: “The remedy for
idolatry is for us to get caught up in the majesty and grandeur of God, the
true God, the living God, the everlasting King.
An idol is a substitute, and you never want a substitute once you have
experienced the lov and power of the Lord God Almighty.” (Warren Wiersbe)
My Steps of Faith for Today: Worship the Lord and Him alone.
Memory verses for the week: Philippians 2:5-7
5 Have this attitude in
yourself which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form
of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied
Himself, taking on the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness
of man.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Three months” (Acts 28:11).”
Today’s Bible
question: “What statement did Jesus make
to the man with palsy that caused his opposition to criticize him?
Answer in our next SD.
2/23/2014 9:02 PM
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