Some things in our lives can’t be managed. They have to be thrown out. As Israel stood on the edge of the Promised Land, God made them extraordinary promises, but all of it came with one clear condition. The gods of the land weren’t to be tolerated or negotiated with; they were to be demolished.
“Do not bow down before their gods or worship them or follow their practices. You must demolish them and break their sacred stones to pieces. 25 Worship the Lord your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you, 26 and none will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will give you a full lifespan. 27 “I will send my terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn their backs and run. 28 I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way. 29 But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you. 30 Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land. 31 “I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and from the desert to the Euphrates River. I will give into your hands the people who live in the land, and you will drive them out before you. 32 Do not make a covenant with them or with their gods. 33 Do not let them live in your land or they will cause you to sin against me, because the worship of their gods will certainly be a snare to you.” (Exodus 23 v 24-33)
You cannot fully worship the Lord while keeping a shrine to something else in the corner of the field. That’s why “Do not bow down before their gods or worship them or follow their practices. You must demolish them and break their sacred stones to pieces” and “Worship the Lord your God” go hand in hand
Israel were called to be His exclusively.
Sadly, Israel made room for the idols of the other nations. By the time of Judges, the angel of the Lord was warning that the nations they had spared would become traps and their gods snares (Judges 2:3). What they refused to break eventually broke them.
Today idols have simply changed shape. Anything we trust for security or comfort in place of God is a sacred stone standing in our land.
So what should we do? Stop negotiating with what God has told us to remove. And give our worship, undivided, to the Lord who goes ahead of us.
Christ did not die to share His throne with our idols.
