We Need A Reckoning

Again the Israelites did evil in the LORD’s sight. They served the images of Baal and Ashtoreth, and the gods of Aram, Sidon, Moab, Ammon, and Philistia. They abandoned the LORD and no longer served him at all. [Judges 10.6] 

It might be said that idol worship is a downward spiral; there comes a point where the bottom is reached. Israel reached that "bottom" of not serving God at all. They had eventually and completely given themselves and their trust over to idols without regard for God.

Idol worship is, on one hand, a blatant choice of turning away from God. In this abrupt way, a conscious decision is made to reject God's way. Usually, there is a euphoric adrenalin rush associated with such disobedience not unlike that of forbidden sex. However, as was the case with Israel, the initial euphoria goes away and the people would repent and return to God.

On the other hand, idol worship can be much more covert and sinister. As was initiated through the sin of Balaam (Numbers 31.15-20), and, ironically following the "forbidden sex" analogy above, Balak learned through Balaam to infiltrate Israel with sex by convincing the Midianite women to seduce the Israelite men into sexual relations AND FROM THERE lure them into worshiping false gods - idols. This method was highly successful.

There is however, a third hand (if you will) of idolatry, invisible to all but those who specifically look for it. It is the idol of self. This idol is manifest in singular ("me") form as well as its plural ("us"). The identifier of this most dangerous idol is that it justifies itself based on God's generous character of love. However, it conveniently does so without accountability to God's less popular characteristic of justice. It reasons that God wants "me" and "us" to have everything we want but without accountability to Him and His Word. In fact, this idol of self unrepentantly provides its own remedies to curses that otherwise indicate and implicate sin. Man designed for himself debt, insurance, medicine and technology to remediate difficulties the Bible specifically calls curses in Deuteronomy 28.15-68 and generally implies curses elsewhere. And, what do all of these "conveniences" appeal to? Self love and preservation. "Get what you want even if you don't have the resources to afford it. Mitigate tragedies without you having to question why it happened. Get physical relief for yourself without dealing with the sin associated with the curse. And, get for yourself every possible tool to make life easier for you." After all, God gave these things because He loves us, right?

Every sincere Christ follower should experience the fear of God when they understand that Judges 10.6 could easily be speaking prophetically of the Church today: They abandoned the LORD and no longer served him at all. The abundance of curses upon the earth that are equally present in the Church should bring a sober reckoning through Galatians 3.13:

But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” [Galatians 3.13]

Have we, like Israel, been lured away from God by idols that promise pleasure, convenience and comfort but without accountability before God (repentance)? Have we, like Israel, completely given ourselves and our trust over to these idols convincing ourselves they are from God?

Oh, we need a reckoning!

Father, may these words not fall on deaf ears or calloused hearts. May they penetrate our cocoon of self-preservation that is without repentance: the cocoon of idols that we have erroneously believed were from You when, in fact, they isolate us from You. May we have eyes to see and ears to hear the truth of Your Word as it is revealed here. So be it.