GOD'S COMPETITION

Exodus 20:1 to 3 reads, " And God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me." (NKJV)

Is God fearful of a little competition? Of course not! After all, He is all powerful. Jeremiah 32:17 says, " Ah Lord God! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee:" (KJV). He is also all knowing. Psalm 139:1 to 4 reads, "O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether." (KJV). God is finally ever-present. Also in Psalm 139 we read, "Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me. If I say, "Surely the darkness shall fall on me,'' Even the night shall be light about me; Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, But the night shines as the day; The darkness and the light are both alike to You." (NKJV).

God is in no way worried about any other so called gods. At most they are demonic spirits, fallen angels, which He created in the first place. We are told that even WE can defeat the highest of them all, Satan himself. James 4:7 says, "Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you." (NKJV). At the very least they are stone idols with no life in them at all. Psalm 115:2 to 8 says, "Why should the Gentiles say, " "Where now is their God?'' But our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases. Their idols are silver and gold, The work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they do not speak; Eyes they have, but they do not see; They have ears, but they do not hear; Noses they have, but they do not smell; They have hands, but they do not handle; Feet they have, but they do not walk; Nor do they mutter through their throat. Those who make them are like them; So is everyone who trusts in them." (NKJV). God is not concerned with these other gods; His concern lies with how His creation, mankind, will react to these other gods.

Both testaments warn us concerning these other gods. Exodus 34:12 to 17 says, "Take heed to yourself, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be a snare in your midst. But you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images (for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God), lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they play the harlot with their gods and make sacrifice to their gods, and one of them invites you and you eat of his sacrifice, and you take of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters play the harlot with their gods and make your sons play the harlot with their gods. You shall make no molded gods for yourselves." (NKJV). In the New testament we read, "Observe Israel after the flesh: Are not those who eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar? What am I saying then? That an idol is anything, or what is offered to idols is anything? But I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord's table and of the table of demons. Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?" (I Corinthians 10:18 to 22 NKJV).

What makes idolatry so appealing? Satan has been employing the same tactics to tempt and trap mankind since he first accomplished it in the garden. The Apostle John wrote these words, "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever." (I John 2:15 to 17 NKJV). The cravings of sinful flesh generally refers to the physical cravings man has. Much of idol worship involves drunkenness, gluttony, and general debauchery. Much of it involves sexual activity, both Homo and Hetero. the lust of the eyes also has a sexual element. Finally, boasting of what a person has or has done is the ego trip that often accompanies idolatry.

The outcome of this is God's people are drawn away from God and His instructions and commands. They are instead drawn into the "freedom" idolatry represents. This so called freedom leads to a slavery worse than that experienced by the Hebrews in Egypt. It is slavery to sin, slavery to Satan, and an addiction to the things these idols provide. the people forget God gave His commands to maintain peace and order, and to express His personal interest in His people and their well-being.

In general, idolatry lead the people to be alienated from God. They turned away from Him. The book of Judges is filled with example after example of the people's idolatry and its outcome. the people began a vicious cycle of idolatry leading to servitude to other nations. The servitude lead to crying out to God for salvation, and then the receipt of that salvation by the hand of God. The hand of God in this case was a judge, a leader who rose up from within the people. However, the judge, being mortal, would die and the people would return to their idolatrous lifestyle and the cycle would begin again. As the people fell into idolatry and all that went with it, the Lord's anger grew against Israel. He chose to discipline His children by letting their sin run its course. When that did not serve to stop the cycle, the Lord would take an active role raising up opposition to be victorious over Israel. Israel would repent and return to the Father. God, being a loving Father, would welcome their return.

The question is, can this happen today? YES!! Granted no one we may know will probably have an altar to Baal or an Asherah Pole in their home, but we are still tempted by other idols and temptations. The Apostle John tells us in I John 2:15 to 17 that we face physical and emotional temptations which can turn our attention from God.These are just as powerful and quick as any biblical idol. Our false gods aren't made of stone or wood, and they aren't named Baal, Molech, Diana, or Dagon. Money is one of our false gods. With many its the more we get, the more we want. Idle leisure is a god to many. People spend more of their time and money on their play than that which they gave or used for prayer, study, or fellowship. Other gods are alcohol, drugs, food, sex, etc. Our god is anything we turn to for peace, pleasure, and satisfaction.

All the time, God offers us peace, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (aka. the fruit of the Spirit). If God disciplined Israel when they followed after false gods, how much will he discipline us as well???

Dr. O.