Eliminate Every Other Source

Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not been able to bear children for him. But she had an Egyptian servant named Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, “The LORD has prevented me from having children. Go and sleep with my servant. Perhaps I can have children through her.” And Abram agreed with Sarai’s proposal. So Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian servant and gave her to Abram as a wife. (This happened ten years after Abram had settled in the land of Canaan.) [Genesis 16.1-3] 

Whether we choose to call it idolatry or not, Sarah's reasonable solution to hers and Abraham's childlessness was indeed an idolatrous act.

God had been very specific in promising an heir - a son - to Abram. Unable to conceive however, Abram reasoned that Eliezer of Damascus must be the solution for how that promise would be fulfilled.

Then the LORD said to him, “No, your servant will not be your heir, for you will have a son of your own who will be your heir.” [Genesis 15.4]

Abram could now rule out Eliezer of Damascus as the solution. But, like most humans today, Abram allowed miracle-less reasoning to get involved as he was easily convinced by Sarai's alternate plan involving yet another servant, Hagar. At least it wasn't Eliezer of Damascus, right?

God's promises to His people always seem to require supernatural fulfillment. Man's reasonable solutions to how the fulfillment of God's promises take place are always idols. They are indeed reasonable substitutions - perhaps even a good source ...but, they are idols.

For the record, we can't be too hard on Abram as he was "getting the idea," ever be it slowly. As we saw in yesterday's One Year Chronological Bible reading, Abram defied reason by refusing to accept wealth from the king of Sodom as payment for returning that which Kedorlaomer and all his allies had taken from him. Abram's justification for refusing payment from the king of Sodom was that God had promised to make Abram rich, and Abram didn't want the king of Sodom's payment to be, in any way, construed as a substitute source for God's promised provision.

Abram replied to the king of Sodom, “I solemnly swear to the LORD, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, that I will not take so much as a single thread or sandal thong from what belongs to you. Otherwise you might say, ‘I am the one who made Abram rich.’ [Genesis 14.22-23]

It seems Abram didn't have much difficulty trusting God as his miraculous source for wealth, but for the provision of an heir, "reason" yielded Ishmael - not the miraculous son of promise.

In the story of Ishmael, we get a foretelling glimpse of how idolatry works, eventually addressed in the Ten Commandments - particularly as God reveals His jealousy in that setting. First, let's consider Ishmael's beginnings:

So Abram had sexual relations with Hagar, and she became pregnant. But when Hagar knew she was pregnant, she began to treat her mistress, Sarai, with contempt. Then Sarai said to Abram, “This is all your fault! I put my servant into your arms, but now that she’s pregnant she treats me with contempt. The LORD will show who’s wrong—you or me!” [Genesis 16.4-5]

Now, compare what happened above with God's 2nd Commandment:

You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me. But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands. [Exodus 20.4-6] 

As Hagar contemptuously taunted Sarai, Satan desires nothing more than to contemptuously taunt God with mankind's misplaced trust and devotion. Sarai's jealous harsh response clearly foretells God's jealous harsh response to our alternate ways and substitutes - idols - that are easily identifiable as the explainable products sourced through human reasoning and effort (man's ways) instead of the undeniably miraculous (unexplainable) provisions of God.

With this in mind, we should take a fresh look at the idol-excluding gantlet Jesus threw down for those who would follow (please) Him:

If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. [Matthew 16.24 (also, Mark 8.34 & Luke 9.23)]

Yes indeed, "Jesus paid it all." But! He did not do so for anyone holding onto their reasonable collection of idols! Everything about "Christ in me" is to be the undeniable, unmistakable miraculous power of the Holy Spirit. I should be as jealous to protect that reality as He is jealous for me to do so! But it is entirely up to me to rid myself of the idols that stand in the way. I must give up my own way, take up my cross, and follow Him.

It REALLY comes down to this: 

The ONLY way it will be indisputably KNOWN that God did something in my life is to ELIMINATE EVERY OTHER SOURCE. 

Should this fact surprise me? No:

You must not have any other god but me. [Exodus 20.3] (the 1st Commandment)

If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. [Matthew 16.24 (also, Mark 8.34 & Luke 9.23)] 

Father, may my life testify of Your undeniable power and presence. May I jealously stand for and defend pure, undefiled faith in You alone (that leaves no room for the world to speculate or reason or taunt that You are not real) because YOU are jealous for that standing in my life! May I be found zealously ridding myself of idols so that every provision in my life is purely a miracle from You! So be it!