SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/15/2016
9:32 PM
My Worship Time Focus: Idolatry
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Habakkuk
2:18-20
Message of
the verses: “18 “What profit is the idol when its maker has carved it,
Or an image, a teacher of falsehood? For its maker trusts in his own handiwork When he
fashions speechless idols. 19 “Woe to him who says to a piece of wood, ’Awake!’
To a mute stone, ’Arise!’ And that is your teacher? Behold, it is overlaid with
gold and silver, And there is no breath at all inside it. 20 “But the LORD is in His holy
temple. Let all the earth be silent before Him.’”
Now in this last main point from chapter two we have
been looking at the sins of the Babylonians, but it is sad to say that Judah
was certainly guilty of these sins too, especially the sin of Idolatry. The very first commandment of the Ten
Commandments speaks about not worshiping a false God, and why is that, God is
holy and God is a jealous God who does not want any worship to go to created
things, but only to Him the creator of all things.
Dr. Wiersbe writes “What is idolatry? Romans 1:25 gives the best answer: worshiping and serving the creature instead
of the Creator. It started with Lucifer who
said, ‘I will be like the Most High’ (Isa. 14:14), and it entered humanity when
Satan tempted Eve with, ‘You will be like God’ (Gen. 3:5, NKJV). It‘s the popular philosophy of the world that
man is the highest thing in the universe and can pull himself up by his own
bootstraps to any level he chooses. ‘Glory
to man in the highest!””
We know
that not only idolatry is disobedience to the Word of God, but when you look at
these verses in our text you can also see the foolishness of it too. I have quoted Romans 1:18 and following in
many of my Spiritual Diaries but it fits in here too: “18 For the wrath of God is revealed from
heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the
truth in unrighteousness, 19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.
20 For since the creation of the world
His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been
clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are
without excuse. 21 For even though they
knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile
in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing to
be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God
for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed
animals and crawling creatures (Romans 1:18-23).” These verses show that it was God who made
man, and God made man to worship Him, not to worship idols. Dr. Wiersbe writes “Not only is the idol
useless (see Ps. 115), but it does definite evil by teaching lies (Hab. 2:18)
and giving people false confidence that the dumb idol can help them. For a heartbreaking example of this kind of
foolish reasoning read Jeremiah 44.”
He goes on to talk about more modern idols “Whatever
people delight in other than God, whatever they are devoted to and sacrifice
for, whatever they couldn’t bear to be without, is an idol and therefore under
the condemnation of God. Most people in
civilized countries don’t worship man-made images of things in nature, but if
the above definition is correct, modern society has its idols just as the
Babylonians did.”
People, money, jobs, sports teams, sports figures,
TV, movies, movie stars and you name it can be a modern day idol.
Now we want to look at verse twenty as we see an abrupt
turnaround from worshiping idols to read “But the LORD is in His holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before Him.’” 4 The LORD is in His holy temple; the LORD’S
throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men (Psalm
11:4), is a similar verse. Dr. Wiersbe
writes “The first assurance focused on God’s grace (Hab. 2:4), and the second
on God’s glory (v. 14). This third
assurance focuses on God’s government; God is on the throne and has everything
under control. Therefore, we shouldn’t
complain against God or question what He’s doing. Like faithful servants, we must simply stand
and listen for His commands. ‘Be still,
and know that I am God’ (Ps. 46:10).”
These words are true, but when things are going like they are going in
our country as we see it falling apart right before our eyes it is difficult to
trust the Lord, but it is the only, and the best thing that we can do. I have mentioned when we began this book
about the guest Pastor who came to our church and his messages were from this
book as he compared the nation of Israel and what went on before the Babylonians
attacked them to what is going on in our country at this time. He did not say that this was what was going
to happen to our country, but if we look around at all of the laws that this
country has broken, and I am speaking about God’s laws it is not surprising
that we have fallen so far, so fast.
What we are seeing in this book with the author,
Habakkuk, is that as He sees more and more about the faithfulness of God, he
begins to become more of as worshiper, than a worrier which is what he was in
chapter one, he knows that God is in His holy temple and governing all things
to His glory.
2/15/2016 10:04 PM
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