SOME THOUGHTS ON IDOLS

“All the people took the gold rings from their ears and brought them to Aaron. Then Aaron took the gold, melted it down, and molded it into the shape of a calf. When the people saw it, they exclaimed, “O Israel, these are the gods who brought you out of the land of Egypt!” Aaron saw how excited the people were, so he built an altar in front of the calf. Then he announced, “Tomorrow will be a festival to the Lord!” The people got up early the next morning to sacrifice burnt offerings and peace offerings. After this, they celebrated with feasting and drinking, and they indulged in pagan revelry.” – Exodus 32:1-6.

Few stories in the Old Testament tend to make us feel more superior to the Israelites than the tale of the golden calf in Exodus 32:1-6. But if you understand what happens here, you’ll begin to understand why we’re so prone to go astray.

What is surprising is that the Israelites had seen God take them from being slaves to being free on the way to the promised land. God had provided for them miraculously in the desert. They had seen God move with their own eyes.  But that wasn’t enough because they had a problem. Moses was up in the mountains. They stood in the middle of the desert, feeling exposed, vulnerable, and scared. And Moses was their only connection to God, and who knew if he was even still alive or if he would ever return? And so their solution was, “Make us gods who will go before us.”

Today, it may seem a little silly to think that a statue could bring peace, joy, security, and happiness. The reality is that the most dangerous idols are rarely made of wood or stone—they are the ones that quietly take God’s place in our hearts without us ever naming them. Today’s idols appear to be security, comfort, approval, control, politics, work, entertainment, and even relationships. They are not evil in themselves—many are good gifts from God—but they become idols the moment we look to them for what only God can give: identity, worth, joy, and peace.

The irony is that idols always make promises they can’t keep. They promise satisfaction but leave us empty, promise security but make us anxious, promise joy but lead us to exhaustion. God offers all these things freely.

Dismantling our idols, however, is often difficult because we don’t want to expose them. We don’t want to admit—even to ourselves—that we’ve made an idol out of our politics, our work, our relationships, or our comfort. It’s easier to rationalize that they’re not idols at all, merely good things we sometimes focus on too much.

Once you’ve identified a potential idol, consider whether you’ve put it ahead of or in place of God. Pray that He will help you become more aware of your idols, and that He’ll lead you on the long, hard path of faithfulness.

“Do not provoke my anger by worshiping idols you made with your own hands. Then I will not harm you. But you would not listen to me,’ says the Lord. ‘You made me furious by worshiping idols you made with your own hands, bringing on yourselves all the disasters you now suffer’ (Jeremiah 25:6-7).

Discussion questions:

1. What are some modern-day idols that people struggle with?
2. What do we do when we discover an idol in our life?