In the Book of Deuteronomy, we see that God is indeed serious about idol worship. Just read the following two passages from Deuteronomy and notice what God thinks about idols.
“These are the decrees and laws you must be careful to follow in the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has given you to possess—as long as you live in the land. Destroy completely all the places on the high mountains, on the hills and under every spreading tree, where the nations you are dispossessing worship their gods. Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and burn their Asherah poles in the fire; cut down the idols of their gods and wipe out their names from those places.” (Deuteronomy 12:1-3).
“When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you— and when the Lord your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy. Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, for they will turn your children away from following me to serve other gods, and the Lord’s anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you. This is what you are to do to them: Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut down their Asherah poles and burn their idols in the fire. For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.” (Deuteronomy 7:1-6).
But why does God use such strong language when it comes to idol worship? I think there are two main reasons. First, we know that our God is a jealous God. And the second reason, relates to the phrase we read in (Deuteronomy 7:6), where God calls us “his treasured possession.”
The Bible tells us that God is a jealous God for we read in (Deuteronomy 4:23-24): “So be careful yourselves, that you do not forget the covenant of the Lord your God which He made with you, and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of anything against which the Lord your God has commanded you. For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.” Now we normally associate the word jealousy in a negative way but that’s not the way it is used in relation to God. Look at it this way you should be jealous for your relationship with your wife. Your relationship with her is unique and singular and intimacy with her is not meant to be shared with others – only with her. And that’s the way God views it. He wants an exclusive relationship with you. And exclusivity means we can only serve one God; and not share our love with any other gods or idols.
Now let’s look at the phrase “treasured possession.” Imagine the Creator of the universe calls us His treasured possession! Normally when you call something a treasured possession you cherish it and protect it. And that’s what God does with you and me. As Christians we are God’s precious children and God delights to lavish us with His amazing love. Again, this type of relationship can only stay special if we give God our whole heart. If we are sharing our heart with other idols like money, fame, sex, and the host of other things that vie for our attention, then our devotion to God becomes diluted and half-hearted.
(Deuteronomy 10:12) tells us what the Lord wants from us: “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” Just as God treasures us we should want to treasure God and serve Him with every fiber within us. This, however, is not possible if we are serving idols alongside of God.
It’s time to examine our own hearts and take inventory of the idols we are serving. Let’s commit to serve God with a whole heart and watch how joy and peace flood our souls and fill our hearts to overflowing. Let’s also get excited to realize that when we get rid of our own idols that God will go to bat for us mightily, for we read: “For the eyes of the Lord roam throughout the earth, so that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His…” (2 Chronicles 16:9).